To Love A Greaser
by 1980s-popito
Summary: Raina "Rain" Johnson... Greaser... Tulsa, Oklahoma 1966... Born September 21, 1949... Dark brown hair... Brown eyes... 5'5"... "I've seen how you two are when you're together, Rain. Your faces light up like Soda's would when he was with Sandy. You even get pink in your cheek sometimes when he makes you smile." -Ponyboy Curtis, "TO LOVE A GREASER" (2 of 3)
1. Chapter 1

Hi there! this is my first fan fiction on ! I originally wrote this story and currently am on but I wanted to put it here too! I'm still not really sure how to use this website for updating and such so please be kind and patient with me? thanks! stay gold!

Dallas was freaking out. This was the first time I'd ever saw him cry, or even upset really and have some sort of real worry for someone. Ponyboy stood looking at the scene in front of him with tears in his eyes. I leaned against the doorway with my hands over my face while tears rolled down my cheeks. Dallas stormed out of the room into the hallway and out of the hospital.

Ponyboy and I walked back to his house without saying a word. There was nothing to say. I'm pretty sure we were both in shock of what we had just seen and I know that if I opened my mouth, I would've broke down right then and there from what I saw.

When we got back, everyone was covering up and tending to their cuts or whatever injuries they had gotten from the rumble. I would've gone too, but girls weren't allowed to take part in rumbles. Darry shot up from his seat. "Where were you two?" he asked. I looked at Ponyboy who just glanced at Darry, who had a worried expression on his face. Ponyboy didn't look too good if you asked me, but on the other hand, I probably wasn't in the best state either, rumble or not. "What's wrong?" Ponyboy and I looked at each other then I looked down at the ground and shuffled my feet. "Johnny… he's dead," he answered, his voice was quiet. Everybody stood up with expressions that showed sadness and shock at the same time, all happiness from winning the rumble was gone.

"Where's Dally?"

"He's gone… he couldn't take it." Ponyboy looked as if he were gonna cry again, and I honestly didn't blame him.

"He… he's gonna blow, we all know it," I said quietly.

We were all about to go out and look for Dallas until the phone rang. Steve went up and answered the call while the two older Curtis brother went to comfort their youngest, "Yeah… this is Steve… Dally?... sure." He called Darry over to take the call,"Hello… yeah… sure, Dal. Are you alright?... we know… hang on, we'll be right there." Darry hung up then looked at us,"That was Dally, the cops are after him, we gotta hide him." With that, we all ran out the house.

I could see Dallas running ahead about 20 feet in front of the cop cars. I remembered the gun he had in his car, it wasn't loaded but knowing him, he probably was acting like it was. Ponyboy looked at me and from the look on his face, we were thinking the same thing. We all started to yell toward the cops,"It's not loaded! Don't shoot him! It's not loaded!" We stopped yelling when we heard a gunshot and saw a figure fall. Dallas was on the ground using whatever strength he had to try to reach us, until he stopped moving right in front of us.

I stumbled and leaned against Sodapop's shoulder. He glanced up at me, "You ok, Rain?"

I shook my head, "I'm light-headed…" My voice was quiet.

I switched to leaning on Two-Bit's shoulder. He wrapped his arm around shoulders to keep me steady. I glanced over at Ponyboy who fell down next to Dallas unconscious. Darry and Sodapop rushed down to him first, Two-Bit held tight on my shoulders still so I wouldn't fall. Darry picked up his youngest brother, and put him in his truck to take him to the hospital.

Ponyboy was emitted into the hospital. Apparently, he had been sick the entire day and the rumble in the rain was absolutely no help at all. Everybody except me, Darry and Sodapop went home and it was 2:30 in the morning. I didn't really wanna go home, especially with everything that happened, I don't think I could've handled my parents so I decided to stay with the two and wait. One of the doctors came to where we were waiting. "The three of you should head home. Get some rest. We'll call you tomorrow with how he's doing," he said. I looked at the two brothers, who both looked exhausted. Darry got up and looked into Ponyboy's room then back over to me and Soda. "Come on you two. He's right, it's late," he said, waving for us to follow him.

"Hey Rain, I think you should stay over our place tonight. Especially with how your head was bothering you before," Soda suggested as we got into Darry's truck.

I shrugged and followed into the truck, "I don't know. I don't wanna intrude or anything."

Darry started the car and drove out the hospital parking lot. "I agree with Sodapop. I mean, when you and Pony got home before, you were really pale. And, no offense, I don't think it's good for you to be with your parents right now with everything that's happened."

I sighed a little and leaned my head against the car window. "I don't know…"

"Alright… come by us. You can stay and sleep on the couch if you want, or you can leave if you want," Darry said and stopped his truck in front of their house. The two brothers went inside the house and I decided to sit on the front porch of the house. I leaned against the post that held the porch up and sighed a bit, thinking about everything that happened just in the matter of a few hours.

…_the next morning_…

When I woke up, I wasn't sitting on the porch anymore. Either Sodapop or Darry had put me on their couch sometime during the night. It felt like everything that happened was just a bad dream, and even though it wasn't, I prayed to my lucky stars that it was.

I sat up on the couch and glanced into the kitchen. I got up and looked outside and saw Darry sitting on the couch they had on the porch. I was about to go outside when I heard Soda come from his and Ponyboy's room. He looked up at me, "Hey. You fell asleep on the porch last night, so we brought you in so you wouldn't get sick or somethin'… two of us were gonna go see how Pony is, gonna come?" I nodded and went outside and sat against the post again.

"Hey Rain," I heard Steve say. I looked up from the ground and saw him and Two-Bit walking up to the house.

I looked up at them and gave a weak smile. "Hey guys," I said quietly.

"How ya doin'? Your head was bothering ya last night," Two-Bit said as they both sat at my sides.

I shrugged a bit. "Fine, I guess. Still kinda hurts, but not too bad."

"Alright… we're gonna head inside and see how the other two are doin'," Steve said. I nodded and the two went inside. I stayed there and thought about what had happened this week. How scared I was when Dallas told me Johnny and Ponyboy killed a Soc, and ran away. How scared I was when that fire started at the church. How scared I was when I heard Johnny yell from inside the church and Ponyboy was on the grass outside unconscious. How scared I was when Dallas went into the church. How scared I was when Dallas picked me up before the rumble and on the way to the hospital. Just how many things scared me the whole week, I guess. I still couldn't believe everything that had happened… happened.

I was brought out of my thoughts when Darry came and sat next to me on the porch."Rain… Soda and I think that in everyone's best interest, I try to get custody as your legal guardian when we go to juvenile court that day. I know your parents, and I'm sorry for saying this, but they don't care about you like we all do. Now, if you don't want me to, I won't. It's your call. I'm not gonna force you to if you don't want that… I'm just saying, that we all think that's best for you."

I knew he was right. My parents beat the hell outta me ever since I was a kid. My home life, might as well have moved in with Johnny and it wouldn't be any different. I spent as much time away from my parents as I could so I wouldn't have to deal with them.

I nodded, "I don't like living with them. Maybe to help with the case, we can press charges on how they would treat me. You guys were the ones who took care of me when they did, everything they did." My voice was quiet.

He nodded, "Alright Why don't you came inside for now. Looks like it's gonna rain." I nodded and we both got up and went inside. Soda was getting ready to head to hospital to check on Pony. "Soda, Rain- c'mon. Let's go see how he's doin' before it starts to downpour." I grabbed my leather jacket and followed the two out the door.

None of us said a word the whole way there other than a few things between the two brothers. It was obvious how worried they were about their youngest brother. They were obviously trying to hide it from me, Two-Bit and Steve, but they didn't have us fooled. We acted like it though for their sake.

When we got to the hospital, Ponyboy wasn't very different from the night before. He was somewhat awake, more like in and out. Apparently, he had gotten a mild concussion and we all knew exactly from what. The doctor would allow us to take him home, and if he didn't fully wake up in a few days he wanted us to bring him back.

Darry had to fill out his release forms as his legal guardian. Soda and I waited with Ponyboy, who kept mumbling something about bologna I think. I couldn't really make out what he was saying, but that's what I gathered from it. He started to mumble a few names, but I couldn't make out what they were. "What's he saying?" I whispered to Soda, who could probably understand him better.

He sighed a little, still looking at his brother. "Calling for Johnny, Dallas, me, you, Darry and our parents."

His face fell when he mentioned their parents. I was about to say something when Darry walked in, "After they file his papers we can go." A few minutes later a nurse came in and told us we could go. She put Ponyboy in a wheel chair since he was still not really awake and brought him to Darry's car. ON the way to the house, Darry and Sodapop were talking about the court date coming up to determine if Ponyboy was innocent and was able to stay with his brothers. Cherry Valance had to testify to the case since the Soc who was killed was her boyfriend, and since she had been there before what took place that night. But she was on our side. Randy Anderson, Bob's best friend and the girl named Marcia's boyfriend, was even on our side- which was pretty shocking considering he had been helping Bob that night.

We got back to the house and Two-Bit and Steve were still there, which wasn't unusual. Darry said I could stay over their house till the court date and I should try to get some of the stuff I needed from my house. He offered to come with me, since my parents might be there but I told him no.

I got to my house and snuck in through my bedroom window, which I left unlocked. I locked my bedroom door and grabbed whatever was important to me- a switchblade that the gang got me when I was 13, a leather bracelet from Johnny and Ponyboy, a necklace with a skull on it from Dallas, and one of the rare pictures of all of us together- and some clothes and stuffed everything in my backpack and snuck back out the window. When I was two blocks away, I could still hear my parents. I ran faster so I could get to the house quicker.


	2. Chapter 2

…_the next week…_

Ponyboy, Sodapop, Darry and I all walked into the courtroom. I saw Cherry Valance with her parents, Randy Anderson with his, and mine looking back at me angrily. I bit my lip and look down at the ground when I saw their angry faces.

I wore a ruffled black skirt, a white blouse and brown boots… I had to dress somewhat nice in a courtroom right?

…_one hour later_…

Ponyboy was released into the care of his older brothers instead of boys' home. He ran to the two with the biggest smile on his face I'd ever seen. The judge called the court to order, now for who I live with: Darry or my parents. Steve and Two-Bit walked into the courtroom since they were witnesses and defense that I should move in with the Curtis'. My heart pounded in my chest. I didn't want to stay with my parents but I didn't want to be put in some foster kids home, either. I wanted to stay with the gang.

I was told to sit in the witness stand and we started. "Your name is Raina Johnson, but people call you Rain. Is that correct?" the judge asked.

"Yes, your honor," I nodded.

"Alright. And you're pressing charges against your parents, Lisa Johnson and Daniel Johnson, for physical and verbal abuse and neglect. Is that correct?"

I sighed nervously, "Yes, your honor. That's also right."

"Ok… so can you explain what exactly has happened with your parents that you are pressing charges against them, please?"

"Sure… for one, just a few weeks ago they did. I got beat up at school and my parents didn't care. They called me stupid and incompetent for letting it happen. Then my dad got his belt and hit my arm. Every time something happens that they don't like, that's what they do." I glanced again at my parents who both looked at me, fire in their eyes.

"And how long have they been doing that sort of thing?"

"Well when I was younger, not really. It didn't really start till I turned eight."

"Have you been staying in their house lately?"

"For the last few years, I've been in and out. This past week I've been staying with the Curtis'."

The judge told me to take a seat and called Darry to the stand. " , is it true that Raina Johnson has been staying with you this past week?" he asked.

Darry nodded, "Yes you honor, she has."

"Did her parents make her stay with you, did she ask, or did you offer?"

"We offered. Since she was feeling well the day Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston died, we offered for her to stay the night since we know how her parents can be."

"Hold on, who is _we_?"

"My brother Sodapop and me."

The judge nodded and looked over his papers, "Now, it says here that you are trying to become Raina's legal guardian instead of her parents."

Darry nodded, "Yes, that's correct."

"What's your argument that she should stay with you instead of her parents? I have her side of the story but now I need evidence."

"She has witnesses that are here."

The judge looked away from Darry and into the courtroom, "Would the witnesses of Raina Johnson's case please stand up?" Steve, Soda, Two-Bit and Ponyboy all stood up and they judge's eyes widened a bit. He told Darry to leave the stand and called up Sodapop. He was questioned about if that was his real name or not. "On your birth certificate, it really says Sodapop as your first name?"

Soda nodded, trying to hide his slight annoyance from the judge, "Yes it does, your honor."

The judge kinda shook it off. "What is your evidence for Raina's case?"

"Once a few months back me and Rain were out after I left work and she was out after school and I walked her home and it was pretty late. I think around 10:30 or around that. When she closed the door, I heard her parents yell at her and I glanced through the window and saw her mom start to hit her."

My jaw dropped a bit and my eyes widened. I didn't know he knew about that. I bit my lip and looked down at the ground, embarrassed by the scenario he gave. I looked at my parents from the corner of my eye who both looked at Soda nervously and furiously.

The judge then called Ponyboy to the stand. He didn't question him on his name, since he had done that before when he was questioned for his own case. "Alright, now you've already been asked about how your brother takes care of you. But how does he treat Raina?"

"Like she was a part of our family, your honor," he answered.

"Would you please explain how, son?"

"Well like this past week. He offered her to stay over our house, and he offered to do this case for her and try to become her guardian."

"Has she stayed with you and your brothers before?"

He nodded, "Plenty of times, your honor."

The judge asked Ponyboy to return to his seat. Next he called Two-Bit up. He was kinda hesitant in saying his real name in front of the whole court, there was nothing wrong with the name Keith, he just didn't like it. The judge asked him to tell a time when Darry helped me and my parents didn't. "A few months back, we were all out their house except Rain. We heard something outside on the front porch. Darry went out to see what it was then a few minutes later came back in with Rain. I remember she had cuts and bruises, she was kinda pale, too. Looked like she was gonna pass out. Darry cleaned her up and took care of her. She said her parents were furious about something, I don't really remember what, but they did that to her."

I remembered that day. Dallas tried to be funny and said it looked like I'd been in a rumble. I slapped his arm for that wise-crack cause I was in no mood for jokes. I stayed at the Curtis' house for a month without going home for that.

The judge then called Steve to the stand. He was the only one of us not questioned about his name, which I thought was pretty nervy, but oh well. What're ya gonna do?

"One time Rain got jumped at night. Johnny found her and called us all over. We brought her to the hospital and Darry, Sodapop and Ponyboy stayed there all night to make sure she was ok," he explained.

That was a good year ago. I didn't remember much of that week. I remember being in the hospital the day it happened, then the next morning before I had surgery cause I had a broken ribcage. I remember they all said I was in and out for about a week, which I remember nothing of. I didn't know they did that. They never told me _that _part. I turned to look at the three brothers who still looked forward at Steve. After he finished, the court was given a ten minute recess while the judge looked over what information he had and thought about everything he just heard. I walked out of the courtroom and leaned against the wall in the hallway. I was looking down at the ground. When I looked up, I saw my parents walking toward me. My heart pounded out of my chest. "How dare you do this, Raina! Bring us to court and have those… delinquents! Try to be in charge of you instead of us!" my mother growled.

"They're not delinquents! They took better care of me than you two ever did! You two deserve whatever punishment you get!" I yelled at my parents. I was done dealing with them and their crap.

"Don't you dare speak to us like that!" my father yelled.

"No! You can't tell me what to do anymore! I'm sick and tired of you two doing whatever to me! You two deserve this! You're people are the worst parents in the whole world and you treat your own daughter like trash and have made my life a living hell and I hope you two die in prison!" I yelled so loud that people were staring at us.

My dad raised his arm and slapped me in the face, and I fell to the ground. I put my hand to my cheek and looked up at my father, who was walking closer to me. I leaned closer to the wall till a figure stood between us. I knew it was one of the guys, but I didn't look up to see who it was. I was too scared to move. Ponyboy leaned down in front of me, "Are you alright?" I shrugged and he helped me off the ground and brought me to the other side of the hallway. I was shaking as much as a Chihuahua. "Rain, try to calm down," Steve said.

One of the police officers throughout the court came over by us and two other cops went by my parents. "Are you alright, miss? I saw what happened," he said to me. I looked up at him and nodded a bit. "You should press charges against them," he suggested. "That's actually why we're all here. My older brother is trying to become her legal guardian and a restraining order too," Sodapop answered for me. "Well after that stunt, you all have a good chance of winning the case," the cop said.

We walked back into the courtroom and the police officers from the hallway were now all talking with the judge. I hadn't said a word yet so far after the whole thing in the hallway. I guess this was "being paralyzed with fear" was. I was still shaking and Two-Bit said I was pale as paper. The judge called order in the court, "Based on what has been presented before me today, and under recent circumstances, Raina Johnson will be placed into the care of Darrel Curtis… Lisa and Daniel Johnson, your hearing for your charges will be next month but until then you will be placed in the federal prison. Case dismissed."

A smiled formed on my face and so did the gang. "We better get your stuff so you can move in with us," Sodapop smiled. "Congrats, kid," Two-Bit smiled and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I laughed as we all left the courthouse. I glanced at my parents who were being put in handcuffs and brought out of the room. I smirked at the sight. They glared at me as they walked past me and I copied their action. Two-Bit stopped them before they were escorted to the police car. "You two deserve whatever hell you get!" he yelled and I held in my laughter as I saw the look on their faces as they were put in the car.

**Hi! This is my new fanfiction! Like I said, I started this on watt pad and still am but I wanted to put it here too! I hope you like it! By the way, I know it seems like a lot happens to Rain, but that's like and always happens to the main characters so yeah :P anyways, I hope you read this fan fiction cause I'm still kinda to writing on this website so yeah XP bye till next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

We all went by my place to get whatever else I need. There wasn't much since I took most of what belonged to me when I was with the Curtis' after the day Pony came home. I didn't own much since my parents didn't really care. I actually liked to travel light, anyway… I grabbed whatever clothes I left that night and put them in my bag. Darry said they had a spare room with a mattress in their house that would be my room. After I finished packing, we headed back to the house.

…_that evening_…

My room was all set up. There was no bed frame for the mattress, but honestly, I preferred it that way. I didn't like bed frames, I always would walk into them and hurt myself.

After we finished, we all hung out in the living room. I glanced outside and saw Two-Bit sitting on the porch drinking a beer. I got up from the couch and went outside, turning on the porch light. He looked up at me as I sat down next to him. He then looked back straight ahead, "Hey Rain."

"Hey… you alright?" I asked.

He shrugged a little, "I guess… Kathy and me broke up. She didn't like that I was hanging out with you and the gang a lot lately instead of her."

"Two-Bit… I'm… "I'm sorry about that."

He kinda blew it off. "I ain't for the jealous type anyway. I was gonna go head to the drive-in to take my mind off it. Wanna come?"

I nodded, "Let me just grab my jacket." I went inside and grabbed my leather jacket, told Darry I was heading to the drive-in then Two-Bit and me left.

Because of the last rumble, it was safer to walk at night- for Greasers at least. We got to the drive-in and Cherry and Marcia were there. Two-Bit and I sat behind them. I tapped Cherry's shoulder and she turned around and smiled. "Hey Rain, congratulations on the court win," she said.

"Thanks," I smiled at her.

"So, are you two on a date or something?" Marcia whispered.

I shrugged a bit. "His girlfriend broke up with him and to take his mind off of her he came here and asked if I wanted to come with him… so basically, I have no idea."

"Well, we'll keep our fingers crossed for you," Marcia smiled and they turned back around. I chuckled and sat back in my seat. The movie was _Beach Blanket Bingo_ I think, which they seemed to play a lot. I honestly hated beach movies. They were so popular lately and it seemed sometimes that those were the only movies that existed. But I was here to help Two-Bit get his mind off of Kathy. If what he said really happened and that's really why they broke up, then she was real stupid. He was a great guy and it was rare when he would have a girlfriend that he cared about as much as he did for her.

The movie ended around 10:30. I'm pretty sure that I fell asleep thought, cause the last thing I remember was my conversation with Cherry and Marcia. Like I said, hated those stupid beach movies.

When it was over, someone was shaking my shoulders gently. "Rain, wake up, the movie's over," I heard Two-Bit laugh.

I rubbed my eyes and sat up, "It's over already?"

He nodded and laughed. "Yeah, you fell asleep almost right when it started."

I frowned, "I'm sorry… I came to help you get your mind off of, you-know-who, and I fell asleep." I felt bad about falling asleep.

He laughed a little and stood up, "I dozed off too."

I laughed and stood up then we left the lot. "It was really funny what you said in the court before," I said.

He smiled, "When am I not saying something to make people laugh."

I chuckled and nodded, "Very true."

"So what time did Darry want you back at the house?"

"Right after the movie ended, I think."

He nodded and we kept walking till he stopped out of nowhere. "Why'd ya stop?" I asked. He looked down, "Rain, can I tell you somethin' and you promise not to laugh?" I nodded and we sat down on the curb of the sidewalk. "I've actually been thinking about breakin' up with Kathy for a little while," he sighed.

I gave a confused look, "What? Why?"

"I like someone else."

"Who?"

The next thing I knew, his lips were gently pressed against mine. He pulled back, "Does that answer your question?" I bit my lip trying to hold back a slight smile and nodded. "So, just to be sure, you asking me to come with you was your own way of asking me out?" I asked.

He smiled and nodded, "That was the plan."

I laughed a little and kissed his cheek. "Well it worked." I stood up from the curb, "I should probably be getting back." He nodded and stood up, "We don't want Darry to beat our heads in."

…_two weeks later_…

So Two-Bit and I started dating after that night at the drive-in theater, and Ponyboy was back in school. It was weird not having him there, especially since there weren't many people who talked to Greasers. I mean, sure, after the rumble we didn't really have to worry about Socs jumping as, except maybe one's who held grudges. But they couldn't come on our territory anymore. But like Cherry and Marcia, we started to talk more at school. Not that girl Greasers or Socs really fought like the guys would, but that's not the point. The point is, there was more freedom in the school and in town.

Two-Bit and I still hadn't told the rest of the gang about us. They all thought he was still dating Kathy. I didn't like keeping this a secret, but we didn't know how everyone would react. At some point, it seemed Ponyboy was getting suspicious and he asked about it on our way to school. "Rain, can I ask you something?"

I nodded, "Sure, what is it?"

"Is it just me, or has Two-Bit been acting different than usual?"

"No, not to me. Why?" My heart began to beat a little faster.

He shrugged a bit. "I don't know. He just seems different lately… has he talked about Kathy lately?"

I sighed a little, "Look, you can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you… they broke up two weeks ago. That night, me and him went to the drive-in and started going out."

He looked a little shocked. "Have you told anyone else?"

I shook my head. "Cherry, Marcia and you. That's it."

"Why not?"

"We're afraid what the rest will say."

"Well you shouldn't be. It's you and Two-Bit's choice to date. If you two wanna go out then you shouldn't be afraid who knows or not."

"Well look who's being all supportive," I teased and ruffled his hair a little, or at least tried to. Sometimes that grease that these guys used would plaster their hair to their head. He chuckled and flattened down whatever strands had gotten out of place, "Hey, knock it off." I laughed as the school bell rang and we headed to our first classes. I swear, sometimes these guys cared more about their hair than I cared about mine.

…_end of the day_…

Ponyboy and I met back up at the end of the like we usually did, and Two-Bit met us there too. He was about to reach for my hand but stopped when he glanced at Ponyboy. "She told me," Pony said. Two-Bit nodded and took my hand in his. "So, when are you two gonna tell the rest?"

I sighed a bit, "Probably soon. We can't hide it forever."

Two-Bit nodded. "I think we should tell them when we get to the house. Unless there's something crazy going on already, we'll tell them. What do you think, Ponyboy?"

"I agree with you guys," he answered, and we all went back to the house.


	4. Chapter 4

"Wait, wait, wait… so you and Kathy have been broken up for two weeks, then you and Rain started dating that night?" I heard Sodapop ask from outside to Two-Bit.

"Look, you know we all love Rain like a sister and we want the best for her, but don't you two think you sorta rushed into things? What if Kathy decided she wanted to get back together with you?" Darry asked.

"I get what you two are saying but you're acting like we got engaged after dating for two weeks. And when me and Kathy broke up, she said she never wanted to see me again and wanted nothing to do with me," Two-Bit explained.

Steve scoffed, "Girls always say that when they break up with a guy."

"Oh yeah? Well do they throw rocks at ya till you leave?"

I looked at Ponyboy who sat next to me on the couch inside the house, "I think I should go out with him. He shouldn't be alone for this." I got up from the couch and went outside by Steve, Soda, Darry and Two-Bit were. They all watched as I walked down the steps and to them. I bit my lip and looked down- which was becoming a habit it seemed- and stood next to Two-Bit. "Rain, can I talk to ya for a second?" Sodapop asked. I nodded and we walked away from the other three. Soda sighed a bit, "You sure about this?"

"About what?" I played dumb.

"C'mon, don't play that game with me."

I sighed. "I like Two-Bit and he likes me, so we started going out. I don't see the problem."

"But you two started going out the same day as the court date and when him and Kathy broke up."

"What's your point?"

He sighed, "I know this probably isn't what you wanna hear, but… what if you two were just caught in a weak spot?"

I kept looking at the ground, "I've been the happiest I have been during any relationship I've had in the past."

"Ok then… you know we're all like family- but if he ever does anything to hurt you while you two are dating, I will personally beat his sideburns off."

I chuckled and smiled a little, "Thanks, Soda." He nodded and we went back by the other three, but now four since Ponyboy had joined the rest from coming inside. Darry had somewhat an expression of confusion and uncertainty. He brought me back to the porch and we sat down. "Look, Sodapop read me the riot act," I sighed.

"I admit we're overreacting about this. But gimme a little break, I mean… we just care a lot. And if you two break up, is that gonna change things for the rest of us?" He sighed a little. "I know I can't control how you feel about people, and Two-Bit is like family as much as you are to the rest of us… but promise me you'll be careful? No offense, but you've seen how long some of his past relationships have lasted."

I nodded. "Yeah, I know. And I know being in charge is still kinda new to you, especially now that you're in charge of me along with your brothers… but you worry too much," I teased.

He laughed a little. "Alright, I'll admit to it… but just remember what I said, alright?"

I nodded, "I will, don't worry." We got up from the porch and went back to the others. Sodapop kinda got in Two-Bit's face, "You know you're like family, but if you do anything to hurt Rain- I will beat you so hard that no one will recognize you." Two-Bit nodded as Soda went back inside the house. I looked at Ponyboy who just shrugged at his brother's sudden change in mood. I went inside and sat next to Sodapop on the couch. He was looking down at the ground and rubbed his hands together a bit. "Soda… what's goin' on?" I asked in a quiet voice.

He shrugged a little.

I sighed. "Look, if it's about our conversation before, I'm sorry I kinda snapped at you before. I didn't mean to."

"Well thanks, but that's not it."

"Then what's wrong?"

"This is gonna sound pathetic, but it's just kinda weird."

"What's weird?"

"You and him dating."

"I don't get what you're saying."

He sighed, "I don't know… it just gives me a weird feeling."

I gave a nervous look. "Not bad right? Like, not jealousy or nothing right?"

He shook his head. "No not that. I love Sandy."

I nodded. "Alright, just checking… then what kind of a weird feeling?"

"I think the fact that you've always been like a little sister to me that I never had. Again, this'll probably sound stupid, but I just feel it's weird… like my little sister is dating someone… I don't know, maybe I'm being like an overprotective big brother."

"Well, I appreciate the fact that you think of me like a sister, but I'm not 'little', I'm sixteen years old. You don't have to worry."

"I know, but you've just been through a lot and hurt a lot."

I nodded. "So have you."

He chuckled and nodded. "Then we're in the same boat I guess."

_This chapter is kinda short… anyway, the reason I'm updating so quickly is cause I'm trying to catch up with the watt pad version of this story and my notebook. So yeah._


	5. Chapter 5

…_three weeks later…_

Things finally began to calm down. Darry, Sodapop and Steve were all going back to work consistently. Me, Ponyboy and Two-Bit all were back at school. Two-Bit had actually started to look for an after school job- which I was proud of him for. He still drank sometimes, but not as much as he used to. He was changing his habits, but in a good way. He would still joke around and such, he wouldn't be him if he didn't. But anyway, we all started to get used to the fact that two of our own were gone, but I'd be lying if I said there wasn't nights that I didn't have nightmares of what happened that night.

There was still some heat between Greasers and Socs. The fact that us Greasers won the rumble kinda determined that Socs couldn't come to our part of town but outside our turf, that was a different story. Greasers were still Greasers. Socs were still Socs… nothing's changed. I longed for the day that it would finally change, and everybody would see each other equally.

In the end though, we're all people. Just different lifestyles, that's all.

Anyway, the rest of the gang had gotten used to the fact that Two-Bit and me were dating. We never got too intimate when they were around since it was still a sensitive spot and we were only dating a little over a month. Sodapop would always keep a good eye on him. I didn't ask him too, I trusted him, but I guess for the moment Soda didn't. I don't know.

Ponyboy was doing pretty bad in school ever since the court date, which was completely understandable. I mean, since we were all readjusting to life, it was harder and unusual. With everything that happened, especially to Ponyboy, it was overwhelming.

Darry and him had been getting along pretty well, but they would still argue. I couldn't stand it when they would argue cause it was usually about the same things. Sometimes it seemed like those two never realized how lucky there were to have each other as a real family, but that's what I thought. It just bothered me though how much they argued.

Apparently, while I was at school, Two-Bit ditched and got a job. I walked to the address that he gave me when he called me after school. I knew I shouldn't have walked alone through town especially since it was getting dark, but I hated to hear the two fighting. Darry, Sodapop and Ponyboy knew I wasn't gonna be home for a while, but I'm pretty sure they didn't know I'd be walking alone.

I got the where to the address Two-Bit gave me was. It was some body shop, not like the DX where Sodapop and Steve worked, but it was the same exact place- just with a different name. I saw hime looking through some things behind the desk and his back was toward me. I quietly walked in, more like tried to walk in quietly but the bell after the door went off. He jumped up a little, turned around and smiled when he saw me. "Hey you," I smiled and leaned on the desk. He leaned on the other side and pecked my lips. "Did you walk hear alone?" he asked.

I bit my lip, "Maybe."

He sighed a little with worry. "No one bothered you, right?"

I shook my head.

He sighed again. "Alright, but try not to walk in town alone, alright? You know it's dangerous."

I nodded. "Yeah, I know. I just couldn't stand to listen to Ponyboy and Darry argue. It's pathetic how much those two fight, sometimes."

"I thought they were getting along better since Pony got back?"

"Well they were, but they're nearly back to the way they were. I can't even imagine how Sodapop is handling them."

"Yeah… well anyway, I get off pretty soon. Wanna grab somethin' to eat when I'm done?"

I smiled and nodded.

"_Two-Bit!" _I heard someone call by one of the cars in the garage. Both of us turned in the direction the yell came from. "_Come finish up this last car!" _Two-Bit rolled his eyes a little, "My boss."

I nodded and he went to the car his boss called him to. I went outside and sat down on the bench on the sidewalk cause I wasn't allowed to hang out in the shop unless I had a car. Sure, it was stupid to be waiting in the middle of town in the dark, but honestly- I didn't really care at the moment. Besides, it couldn't take too long to finish up one car, right?

…_thirty minutes later…_

Ok, so maybe it takes a while to finish up a car. I still sat outside on the bench waiting for Two-Bit to come outside when he was done. I was looking down but looked up when I saw headlights of a car. They turned the corner then about a minute later, came back around and to the corner. When the car reappeared for a third time, I got nervous and went back inside. When I walked in, Two-Bit came from a room in the back. He quickly looked at me chuckled, "Have you been in here the whole time?"

I shook my head. "I was outside and a car drove by about three times. I got nervous so I came in here."

"This was all supposed to be over…"

"You and me both know that it'll never be over."'

He nodded, "Alright, but stay close to me." I nodded and we walked out the body shop. He wrapped his arm tightly around my shoulder and I wrapped my arms around his torso. "Just in case, you got your blade, right?" he whispered. I nodded, "You got yours?" He nodded and we continued walking. I bit my lip nervously and I was shaking a little. "Just try to calm down. Try not to be so nervous, cause then they'll see you shaking and hurt you." I nodded slowly and tightened my grip around his torso.

We were nearly to the diner when the car drove up close behind us. "Just keep walking," he whispered and we walked a little faster. I could feel my heart nearly beating out of my chest. We quickly went inside the diner and to one of the booths. "That was close," he sighed a little. I did the same and nodded a little.

…_one hour later…_

"You sure you wanna walk home? I really think we should take the bus," he suggested. I shrugged, "Either way, we'll run into Socs so we might as well just walk." When we were almost to our part of town, the same car from before drove up behind us. It wasn't Randy and his crew, they stopped bothering Greasers the day of the rumble. This was some red car I'd never seen before. I got a little closer to Two-Bit as the people in the car got out and walked toward us. "You Greasers out a little late, don't ya think?" one smirked.

I swallowed nervously, Two-Bit tightened his arm around my shoulder. "What's your problem? We didn't do nothin' to ya, we're just trying to get back to our side," he snapped.

"Greasers need to be put in their place." The Soc looked at me. "This broad yours?"

I tightened my hold on Two-Bit's torso and gave the Soc's a dirty look. "None a' your business."

One Soc yanked me away from him and the two others held him back. I struggled to get out of the one's grasp but it was no use. "Oh!... so you wouldn't mind if I did _this_?" I quickly switched my gaze to the one Soc who was talking. Both Two-Bit and me were trying to get free the ones holding us, but it still wasn't working. The one Soc grabbed my face by my chin then smashed his lips against mine. I tried to pull away but his hold on my face was too tight. I could hear Two-Bit yelling at them angrily.

He finally pulled away and threw me to the ground. I groaned a little and glanced up. I saw Two-Bit break away and knocked out the two Soc's who held him back, before. He then knocked down the one who kissed me. The other jumped on his back but he flipped him over. Pretty soon, the four surrendered, rushed to their car and drove off.

I was still on the ground and he leaned down to help me up. "Rain, are you ok?" I put my hand over my mouth and gagged, "It tasted like alcohol." Beer I could handle, to some extent, but alcohol was another story. I got up off the ground and he wrapped his arms around me, "Let's get back to the house." I nodded and we quickly went back.

When we got back, the three Curtis' brothers ran past us to the front porch, laughing their heads off. The three sat down on the porch trying to catch their breath. "What was that all about?" Two-Bit asked them. They all stood back up still breathing hard and trying to calm down. "We had to take care of something important and decided to race back home," Darry answered, letting out a slight chuckle.

"So how was your night?" Soda asked.

I opened my mouth to answer but nothing came out. Ponyboy took a step closer to me then backed up, his face full of confusion, "Is that alcohol in your breath?"

Soda's eyes widened. "You weren't drinking were you?" Soda asked nervously.

I groaned a bit and buried my face in Two-Bit's shoulder. "No, she wasn't drinking," he said, "You all know she don't drink. Some Socs got us on the way back and one kissed Rain to get me mad."

"Wait, what happened?" Darry looked mad now.

"Some fancy red car drove up to us on our way here and they started bothering us. It was four Socs. One grabbed Rain, two grabbed me."

I basically cut him off, "The other one grabbed my chin and kissed me. He threw me on the ground and Two-Bit scared 'em off."

"You weren't hurt too bad, right? Either of you?"

"My wrist kinda hurts since I fell on it and my mouth tastes like alcohol." My voice was quiet.

"You alright, Two-Bit?"

He shrugged a little, "My shoulder's kinda sore but that's it."

"So that nasty cut on your lip don't hurt?" Ponyboy asked him. Two-Bit moved his hand to his lip and flinched a little when he felt the cut. He pulled his hand away and there was a little blood from the cut on his fingertips. Darry sighed a litte, "Alright… everybody inside before they decide to show up."


	6. Chapter 6

Sodapop decided to call Steve's place, see if the same guys who bothered the two of us bothered him at all lately. Ponyboy was at the table finishing up some homework he still had. Two-Bit was in the bathroom trying to clean the cut on his lip. I sat on the couch with a towel with ice in it on my wrist since it was a little swollen at this point and I was _not _going to any hospital, thank you very much.

Two-Bit came to the living room and sat next to me on the couch, he held a rag to his lip, "How's your wrist?" I shrugged, "It hurts… how's your lip?" "I think I'll live," he laughed a bit. I laughed then leaned my head on his shoulder. A few minutes later, Steve came through the front door with a confused expression on his face, "Wait, so what happened?" Soda walked over to his best friend and explained what happened and asked if he knew anything about them. "They must be new cause we haven't seen 'em at the DX before," Steve said.

"Rain, you talk to Cherry sometimes, right?" Ponyboy asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"Maybe you could ask her if she knows who those guys were?" he suggested.

I shrugged, "I don't know… I mean, we don't talk that much."

"There's no harm in asking."

"Fine," I sighed, "I'll ask her at school tomorrow before homeroom starts."

…_the next morning…_

Two-Bit, me and Ponyboy all walked to school like every morning. Two-Bit quickly kissed then went off to whatever he had first in the morning. "Don't forget to ask Cherry or Marcia about the red car," Ponyboy reminded me. I nodded hesitantly, "You should try asking Randy. He may know more about them than Cherry and Marcia." He nodded and we both went in the direction to our first classes.

I got to homeroom and sat by Cherry like I usually did. We had about ten minutes before class started. Cherry looked up from her notebook and smiled at me, "Morning, Rain!"

I smiled back, "Mornin' Cherry! Hey, can I ask you about something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Ok… did anyone move into your part of town recently with a red car?"

She thought for a moment. "Now that you mention it, I did see a red car driving past my house late last night. Why?"

"You know the fights that go on, right? Usually with guys?"

She nodded.

"Well last night, I was out with Two-Bit and this red car drove up behind us and was bothering us Long story short: he's got a cut lip and I have a sprained wrist," I explained.

She glanced at the fabric bandage wrapped around my wrist that led to my hand. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry about that."

I shrugged, "Happens… anyway, do you know who they are?"

She shook her head, "I only know they're new in town."

I nodded and the teacher walked in. "Thank you," I mouthed to her. She smiled, nodded and looked forward at the teacher. Later after class, I asked Marcia about the red car and she told me what Cherry had told me, and that Randy would probably know something about them. Ponyboy met up with me after school since Two-Bit told me he had to get right to his job at the body shop after school ended. "Find out anything?" I asked him when we started walking.

"Randy said that the guy who owns the red car is named Griffin but he didn't know the other three guys names. Cherry and Marcia know anything?" he asked.

"They both said they never saw the car before so they're new."

A second later, someone came up behind us and draped one of their arms around me, the other around Pony. I nearly screamed till I turned around and saw Steve about to burst into laughter. I slapped his arm, "You idiot! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" He just laughed and I glared at him a bit.

"Shouldn't you be with Soda at the DX?" Ponyboy asked, clearly annoyed as much as I was with Steve's action.

"We get to take breaks and Darry told me this mornin' I should see what dirt you two got on that red car," Steve answered once he finally calmed down.

"I still don't see the point in nearly knocking me and Pony down." I crossed my arms across my chest… Ponyboy wasn't the only one who didn't get along with Steve too well.

He rolled his eyes. "look, did you two find anything out or what?"

"You'll find out later like everyone else will."

I saw Ponyboy try to hold in laughter at my comment that had attitude, probably more than actually needed. Neither of us really like Steve. The two of us merely tolerated him cause he was Sodapop's best friend, if he wasn't we wouldn't have any contact with him, whatsoever. I remember when I first met Steve I found him annoying. He didn't call me a "tag-along" like he did to Ponyboy, which I really found rude and obnoxious, but he still just bothered me. Ya know how there are personalities that just don't get along when they're together? That was me and Steve.

He gave an annoyed look and I gave a teasing smile. "I gotta head back to the DX," he uttered and turned to walk away. As soon as he turned the corner at the end of the block, me and Ponyboy started laughing. "Nicely done," Pony smiled. I laughed again, "Thank you… thank you, very much." I tried to do an Elvis impersonation of some sort but by Pony's reaction, I failed miserably.

When we got back to the house, there was a note taped onto the door:

_Rain, put some ice on your wrist… Pony, make sure Rain does that… both of you, don't forget about your homework._

I chuckled and shook my head a little at the note then showed it to Ponyboy. He copied my actions and we went into the house. He set his schoolbag down by the couch then pointed at me, "Get your ice." He tried to be serious but it looked like he was about to laugh. I laughed and nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I know." I went to the icebox and did as I was told. I sat down next Ponyboy on the couch so we could both start our homework. "Ponyboy?" I started and he looked up from his textbook. "Can I ask you about something?"

He nodded, "Yeah, sure."

I bit my lip, "When we all got back here last night, what was the important thing that you and your brothers had to take care of?"

"Oh, um…"

I kinda waved it off. "You know what, never mind. It's none of my business."

"No, no, it's fine… what happened is that, Darry and me got Sodapop upset… you know how the two of us would argue?" I nodded. "Well, we were kinda dragging Soda into it by trying to get him to take sides… long story short: me and Darry aren't gonna yell anymore or argue."

I smiled. "That's great! I mean, you're brothers and I get brothers argue, but for crying out loud, you two argued about the same old things all the time."

He laughed, "Yeah, I know. Well not anymore." I smiled and nodded.

Well that answers my question how Soda was handling their arguing.


	7. Chapter 7

"So they're new in town?" Two-Bit asked sitting next to me on the couch and wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

I nodded, "According to Cherry and Marcia."

"Randy said the same thing," Ponyboy said, "He said the guy who actually owns the car is name Griffin."

"What about the other three who were with him. He know their names?" Steve asked.

Ponyboy just shrugged a bit and shook his head.

"Well at least we know something about 'em… they'll probably drop by the DX at some point. Steve and me could try to get their names," Soda said. Steve gave him a weird look and Soda glared a bit to get his point through.

"Even if none of us can get the other guys names, we at least know who the ring leader is," Darry said, "All of you, do your best to steer clear of 'em. Don't walk alone, especially at night. You all know the drill. Understood?" We all nodded at his instructions.

…_the next morning…_

I changed out of what I wore to bed into jeans, black converse, long sleeve white shirt, and a button up shirt with the sleeves cut off. I tied my hair back then went to the kitchen. I glanced into the living room and was kinda confused when I saw Angela Shepard sitting on the couch. She looked up at me as she put on her shoes, "Mornin' Rain."

I nodded back, "Morning… what are you doin' here?"

"I slept here last night. My brother was being a pain in the behind and I didn't feel like dealing with him." She finished putting on her shoes, stood up and waved good bye as she walked out the house. I shook it off then went into the kitchen. None of the Curtis' were awake yet, so I had to make breakfast since I was the first one up. I went to get the pans when I heard the front door creak open. "Anyone up yet?" Steve called out. "I am," I called back. He came to the kitchen, "Where's the other three?"

"Still asleep."

He glanced up at the clock on the wall. "It's nearly 8:30, why're you up so early?"

I shrugged. "Couldn't really sleep too well last night. My wrist was bothering me."

"What does pain in your wrist have to do with falling asleep?"

I rolled my eyes. "It was hurting a lot so it kept me awake, what part of that sentence did you not understand?"

He opened his mouth to say something till I nearly jumped outta my skin when someone wrapped their arms around me from behind. I turned around and saw Two-Bit standing there with a smile. I sighed in relief that it was just him, chuckled then fully turned around to face him. I quickly kissed him, pulled back and slapped his arm playfully, "You jerk! You know not to scare me like that!" I tried not to laugh but I did.

He chuckled, "Mornin' to you too."

"You're welcome for distracting her so you could get in here," Steve leaned against the wall and looked at Two-Bit.

He leaned and pinched Steve on the cheek. "Thank you Steve." Steve gave an annoyed look and backed up so his cheek would be released.

I shook my head and laughed. "You guys are ridiculous. Remind me how I've put up with you all for nearly ten years now?"

A second later, we heard the water from the shower start to run. "Well, that's either Darry, Soda, or Ponyboy," Steve said.

Two-Bit pretended to be shocked. "No kiddin', really? Geez, I thought it was Lyndon B. Johnson," he teased.

I couldn't help but bust out into laughter at what he said. Not just cause we were dating, but I really did think it was funny. Steve kinda just glared at the two of us and I calmed down. "Ok, so what bit you in the butt that you can't take a joke?" I asked him.

He just blew it off and went to Soda and Pony's room. "He's about as happy as a cat stuck out in the rain," Two-Bit said quietly. I sighed a bit and nodded, "Tell me about it… ya got work today?" He nodded, "Wouldn't be up this early if I didn't."

Ponyboy came in yawning. "Morning, sleepyhead," I said looking his direction. "Morning," he yawned. I looked at the clock and it was a little after nine. Soda must've been the one in the shower cause Steve came back out saying that he wasn't in their room, but the shower water was running and Pony was out in the kitchen. "Usually Darry is the only one awake, or at least the first one. But today, he' s the only one not awake," I said kinda confused.

Soda came out from the bathroom in his jeans, t shirt and DX shirt. "Yeah and he's the only one who won't be awake today," he said.

We all gave confused expressions. "What do you mean?" Ponyboy asked nervously.

"Calm down, Pony. He just don't feel too good, that's all."

I honestly didn't blame him for getting nervous like he did at first. It was the first time since Darry was in charge that he didn't feel good. Sure, Pony was sick that time when he got back, but he didn't take care of two younger brothers. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't shocked that he hadn't gotten sick before from everything. After the whole thing with their parents about ten months before, I'm shocked stress hadn't gotten to him sooner and got him sick. I'm not saying I wish it had, I'm just saying that it's a good thing it didn't happen yet.

Soda patted Pony on the back. "Don't be so sour about it," he chuckled. "We'll take my car to work," Steve said to Soda then looked to Two-Bit, "Want a ride?" He shook his head, "I don't trust being in a car with you behind the wheel when you're mad." I held in my laughter and the two brothers did the same. Steve glared at him while he gave a teasing smile. "You're so annoying sometimes," Steve grumbled. "You love us all anyways, though," I grinned. He shook his head and walked out, Soda following close behind him, smiling and waved goodbye.

When the two walked out the three of us busted out laughing. "Its' bad how much we tease him sometimes," Ponyboy said after we calmed down. "Yeah and it's bad how he calls you a _tag-along_ and how he acts like a jerk, but he still does it," I shrugged, leaned against the wall and crossed my arms across my chest. "She's got a point," Two-Bit chuckled, quickly kissed me and left to go to the body shop.

"So, what should we do today, Pony?" I asked.

He shrugged a little. "I got this assignment for English class that I don't get. Maybe you could help me?"

"Only if I can understand it. Realize though, that I barely passed that class last year so I don't know if I'm the best person to be helping ya." He got out his book and sat on the couch. I sat next to him and he handed the paper with the instructions to me. "Oh, I remember this last year! I actually got an alright grade on it," I smiled.

"What do you mean by _an alright grade_?" he teased.

I slapped his shoulder. "Shut your trap… and it was a B so ha-ha." I smiled, proud of one the only good grades I ever got in English.

He laughed and put his hands up in defense. "I sit corrected."

…_two hours later…_

"That took longer than I remember," I said and fell back on the couch. He gave a tired sigh and nodded, "Yeah… well thanks for helping me, Rain." I nodded and opened my mouth to say something until a saw a ripped up paper on the coffee table. "What's that?" I nodded toward it. Ponyboy stood up and looked at it, "It was from Sandy to Sodapop."

I thought for a moment. I didn't really know Sandy too well. Sodapop always talked about her and his face lit up when he did, more than it was already. Now granted, he was always smiling and happy and such, it's just how he was. If he wasn't happy or smiling, something was really wrong. His smile was contagious and you couldn't help but smile yourself when he did. But when he was with her or talked about her, he had a different smile. A kind that you would see married couples have that they were so happy they were together or a couple where the two people were absolutely in love with each other.

"I haven't seen her around lately, how's she doin'?" I asked.

"Oh, uh… she moved to Florida," he started, "She got pregnant, but, the baby wasn't Soda's. Her parents sent her to live with her grandmother."

My jaw dropped. "How could she cheat on him, like that?! You know how happy he was dating her! The way he looked at her, talked about her! How he smiled when he thought about her or talked about her and-"

"Like you and Two-Bit," he interrupted.

I looked at him, shocked by his observation "What do you mean?"

"I've seen how you two are when you're together, Rain. Your faces light up like how Soda's would when he was with Sandy. You even get pink in your cheek sometimes when he makes you smile." I stared at him blankly, not knowing what to say about his observation. "He talks about you a lot, even when you're not around. His face lights up when you walk into the room, even before you two started going out, he would talk about cutting it with Kathy sometimes."

"How do you know all this about relationships and such?"

He merely shrugged. "You learn a lot from books and movies.

I thought about everything Ponyboy said. Were we really like that? I was never good with relationships, any type of feeling like that scared me. Maybe cause my parents had taken away whatever confidence I had left of it, seeing how they were. Maybe seeing and hearing Johnny's parents, too. Maybe I was desensitized to love. I'd had boyfriends before. Not many, I didn't usually get crushes too much since all my friends were guys. And since all my friends were guys, I had different feelings toward guys, more as just friends like I had been nearly all my life. I never really thought about guys really like most girls did, if that even makes sense. I just grew up differently than other girls. I don't know, maybe that was it? I'm leaning more to the desensitized thing cause that was probably was it.

"Maybe you're right," I admitted.

"Is that good or bad?"

"For now… good, I think."


	8. Chapter 8

When the three of them got back from work, Pony and I both finished whatever homework we had for next week. Darry had gotten up since he felt better, his throat was bothering him a little, but that's all. I guess resting does help… the thing though that he was worried about most was that he had missed a day of work. The two of us kept trying to calm him down about it, but he couldn't stop stressing about that one day of missed work. The rest got back about two in the afternoon- on Saturdays, they all got to go home earlier than during the week.

Everything Ponyboy had said earlier came back into my head and wouldn't get out. I glanced at Two-Bit, who was talking with Steve and he smiled. But that could mean anything, though. He laughed and joked around nearly as much as Soda. I don't know, maybe I just worry too much about things.

…_a few hours later…_

"You alright? Ya seem like something's bothering ya," Two-Bit asked as we walked. I just shrugged. "What's wrong?"

I sighed a bit, "I was talking with Ponyboy today while you all were at work."

He gave a questioning look.

"It was nothing bad. Well it kinda was… apparently Sandy cheated on Sodapop. She's pregnant but it's not his kid. Then I got mad cause he doesn't deserve that and I started going on about how he got when he talked about her and such and…" I bit my lip and stopped.

"And what?"

"He said that's how we get. And that even before you broke up with Kathy that you would talk about cutting it with her and maybe ask me out."

He kinda just stood there looking at me. His face was unreadable.

I sighed, "I know I shouldn't have brought it up but if I didn't, it would haunt me till I did bring it up, than I wouldn't be able to sleep. Then I wouldn't get so much sleep that I would probably get sick and everything would get messed up and I-" I was cut off. His lips gently rested against mine.

He pulled back and looked at me, probably for the first time with complete seriousness. "Yeah, I would… sometimes when you weren't there I would talk about you to Pony, he's the only one in that crew who'll listen to me go on about relationships and such. And by the way, if you're worried I would cheat on you, don't, cause I promise I never would."

I gave a weak smile but I guess he saw right through it to my worries. "Rain, I know what you're thinking about. We've known each other for a long time and we've been friends nearly our whole lives. I know people who you love or who were supposed to love have hurt you. You know I'd never do that."

I nodded. "Yeah, I know… sometimes things like this just get me nervous."

"I know. We all get nervous about feelings, even scared."

"I think this is the first time I've had a serious conversation with you," I laughed.

He laughed too. "And people say I can't be serious."

…_..the next day…_

There was literally nothing to do on Sundays. Steve, Sodapop, Darry and Two-Bit didn't have work cause their jobs closed on Sundays. The drive-in was closed cause they thought kids should "spend time with their families" or something. Ponyboy would usually do his homework on Saturdays and I would usually save mine for Sundays so I'd have _something _to do, but if I was with him on Saturdays, then I'd do mine today so I wouldn't just sit in silence while he did his work. And the worst part, nearly every place in town was closed cause they had the same thoughts as the drive-in.

You'd think after all these years, we would've thought of something to do on Sundays.

Steve, Soda and Two-Bit were playing cards. Darry was doing dishes. Pony was reading. I decided to just sketch in my notebook. I wasn't the best drawer, but I'd see Ponyboy do it and he taught me how to draw once, plus like I said, there was _nothing _else to do. I didn't even know what I was sketching, I didn't take a chance to look at what I had, I just kept adding lines and shading.

"It looks like Mickey Mouse," someone said over my shoulder.

I jumped at the person's voice then heard laughter erupt from Two-Bit. "Jerk!... and of course _you'd _say that." He shook his head. "I meant Soda's Mickey Mouse," he whispered.

I remembered Mickey Mouse. Soda was devastated when he got sold. I was eleven or twelve years old cause Soda is about a year old than me, and Ponyboy is about two years younger than me and he was about ten years old. Ponyboy tried to save money to buy him for Soda. Any money I would get, I would give to Pony to help him. We both kinda laugh at the whole things now, now that we know horses cause _way _too much for two ten and eleven year old kids… none of us ever talked about it though.

There were certain things that none of us ever talked about, at least not with the person in the room. For Sodapop- it was Mickey Mouse and now Sandy. For Ponyboy- it was when him and Johnny killed the Soc and ran away all the way to when Johnny and Dallas died. For Two-Bit - it was everything that happened after the rumble that night. For Steve- it was his dad… we all had something that was touchy or sensitive and area that shouldn't be toyed with, and none of us would ever mention unless it was absolutely necessary. Or if we did, we would wait till the one person was out of the room.

I looked at Two-Bit, kinda surprised he mentioned that with him about twenty feet away. I looked at the sketch and agreed with him. I quickly ripped out the page and folded the paper up, then put it in my pocket. I put my finger over my lips and he nodded and went back to the table with the two.

The phone rang and my head shot up. "Someone get that?" Darry called from the kitchen. I volunteered to and got up to answer the phone. I picked up the phone, "Hello?"

"_Hello, is this Darrel Curtis?"_ the person on the other line said.

"Um, no… this isn't."

"_Is he there?"_

"Yeah…"

"_Would you get him, please?"_

I covered the speaker of the phone with my hand, "Darry, they wanna talk to you." He nodded, dried his hands and came to take the call. I went into the kitchen and finished the dishes for him while he was on the phone. "_Hello?... yes, that's me. Who's calling?... oh, alright… uh yeah, yeah sure… sure, thank you, bye." _With that, he hung up the call. "Who was that?" Sodapop called to his big brother. "Uh… my boss. He's calling everybody to say that tomorrow's work is cancelled cause he has a big meeting," he answered hesitantly. Soda nodded and went back to the card game. The way he answered didn't convince me, but I decided to let it go and wait to see what happens.

**This chapter was short, I know, compared to my others… but there's a reason for that cause I wanted the chapter to end with the phone call cause of what I have for next chapter so anyone reading this don't kill me please? **

**Anyway, I'm still trying to catch this up with my notebook and watt pad so please give me a break :P**


	9. Chapter 9

…_the next morning…_

"Time to get up!" I heard from my room. I looked at the clock on the desk next to my bed… _7:01am_… I got out of bed and went over to the closet. I grabbed my blue jeans with the edges folded up into cuffs, a red short sleeve shirt, black boots, and a jean jacket. I combed my hair out and did a somewhat sloppy braid, mostly cause I was too lazy to do a proper one and my arms were getting tired.

…_one hour later_…

Two-Bit and Steve came by like they always did. Darry didn't have work cause his boss had a huge meeting so Steve would drive himself and Sodapop to work. Two-Bit, Ponyboy and me would just walk to school like we always did.

I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth. "Rain, could you come into the living room?" Darry called. "I'll be right out," I called back, or at least tried to, considering the toothbrush was still in my mouth. I out it away and walked to the living room. "Ok, what's up?" I asked and walked into the room. I gave a confused look when they all looked at me nervously. "What's going on?"

Darry sighed a bit then opened the front door. A police officer walked in, and my parents followed in behind him. I felt the color drain from my face and my eyes widened. "Your parents got a death penalty and they wanted to talk to you before it happened," he said quietly.

My dad looked to the five. "Would you please let us talk to Raina alone?"

"I think it would be better if Darrel Curtis stayed in the room, considering that he is her legal guardian," the officer said.

Darry nodded and sent Two-Bit, Soda, Steve and Pony out of the room. But if I knew them well enough- which I did- they were probably in the next room, trying to hear whatever they could. "I have nothing to say to you too," I growled at my parents, sitting down at the Curtis' table and resting my head in my hands.

"Then just listen," my mother said sadly, "Raina… we regret everything we've done to you that caused you pain. We… we just wanna make things right."

I just shook my head slightly and remained quiet.

"We're sorry for everything we've done to you and-"

"Wait, wait, wait… you're _sorry_?" I interrupted and stood up. "You made my life a living hell, and all you two have to say, is _sorry_?... news flash- this sort of thing can't be fixed with a simple "_I'm sorry." _It's already hard, living on this side of town and then going to the school, filled with people form the West side of town. They beat us, they mock us, they jump us for absolutely no reason- I didn't need my own parents treating me the same exact way! Then that day in the courthouse… you really had the guts to hit me there?... your apology is not sincere. You're doing it probably cause it was court orders, or for your own selfish reasons."

"You heard him before, Raina. We've been given a death penalty. If we have to die, we wanna die, knowing our daughter forgives us," my father said.

My head started to spin from everything going on. "Well, I'm sorry to inform you, but it's not gonna happen. .. sixteen years. For sixteen years, you two thought that what you were doing was right. The fact that it took you that long, and for your own daughter to press charges against you is pretty pathetic if you ask me… I can't get over how you two think just saying sorry will change anything. This isn't preschool! This isn't like when one little kid hits another for whatever reason they had. You two kept on doing it for whatever reason you had! There are some things you can fix, and there are some you can't… and this is one you can't fix."

I was getting dizzy and my head was pounding from all the yelling I just did and the sudden frustration and nervousness. I probably looked like I was about to fall to the ground, but I really didn't care at the moment. I was going to get what my parents had done engraved into their skulls.

"We understand that," my mother said, "We just wanted you to try and understand how sorry we are."

"You must not have a word I just said… my point is: I don't accept your apology. I don't believe a word-"

"Rain, I think you should sit down. You don't look too good," Darry said and put a hand on my shoulder.

"He's right, Raina. You-" my father started.

"Stay outta this!" I shouted and started to walk forward but stumbled a bit. Darry kept his hand on my shoulder then called to Sodapop and Two-Bit, "You two, help her two her room. She doesn't look good at all." "What just happened in there?" Two-Bit asked.

I sat down on my bed and placed one hand against my head. "My parents came to 'apologize' for everything they've done."

"What'd you do?"

I shrugged. "I yelled in their faces… but honestly, I don't remember a word of what I said. It just happened."

Ponyboy had left the room and now came running back, "You guys may wanna see this."

We all left the room and peaked around the corner into the living room. Darry stood there facing my parents with an expressionless face. His arms were crossed over his chest and he just stood there, waiting for them to say something. My parents had pleading looks on their faces as they looked back at Darry. "I don't know if you remember us from when you were younger, but-" my father started.

"Oh, I remember you two," he interrupted.

My mom looked down. My dad gave a sad sigh and continued on, "Maybe you could, try talking to Raina for us?"

Darry shook his head. "No… no, I don't think I can."

"Why not?" my mom frowned.

"Cause I agree with everything she just said to you two… did you two really think that she would forgive you after how you've treated her? Now, I've never been in her shoes in this case, I came from a home with loving parents. Ones who took care of me, my brothers, my friends, and yes- Rain. My parents treated her like she was their own, like she was their daughter. You two treated her like trash. You're her parents. Your job as parents is to take care of her and make sure she's fine and everything is going alright. You've neglected her for sixteen years and you only confronted it cause you were reported," he said only raising his voice a little.

The rest of us watched the scene in front of us with wide eyes. I bit my lip. "I think it would be best, in everyone's interest… if you two left," he finished. My jaw dropped a little. I looked at my parents who stood there with expressions of both shock and sadness, and if I was right, even a little anger. The officer who had brought them put them back in their handcuffs and brought them out to his car. We all ran back to my room when Darry turned and started walking toward us. A minute later, he got to the room. I was pretty shocked when he started to laugh. "Quit the gag, I know you five were watching," he laughed, "Steve, Sodapop- you two going to work?" The two nodded.

He looked at Ponyboy, "You gonna go to school? You'd be late for your first class but I could write a note for you to give your teacher. Only if you want." Ponyboy nodded.

Darry looked at me. "You on the other hand- are staying home today. You nearly fell unconscious before and I know all of us agree, we don't need any more excitement today." He turned to Two-Bit, "If you're not going to work or school, you'll stay here while I drop the other three off?" He nodded. "Alright, I'll be back in a little while." Darry walked out with Ponyboy, Sodapop, and Steve following behind him.

"You ok?" Two-Bit asked worriedly.

I shrugged a little. "How would you feel if your parents, who abused you all your life, came to where you currently live and claim that they were wrong but only cause they had a death penalty?"

"Not too good, I'm guessing."

I tapped my nose. "Bingo, we have a winner," I chuckled.

He did the same. "You know, I wanted to just run up to them and hurt them for what they did to you."

"Who was stoppin' ya?"

"Superman was in the way," he laughed.

I couldn't help but laugh at that. Darry wasn't too fond of when we called him "Superman", but it was a perfect nickname for him. He was big, strong, and this may sound weird- but good looking. I'll admit to that. I'm shocked he had no girlfriend yet.

"Good thing they left so he wouldn't hear that," I managed to get out.

"We haven't left yet!" Darry called from the other room.

My eyes widened and I fell back on my bed laughing. Two-Bit nearly fell out his chair laughing. I could hear the rest of them laughing. "It's a small house with thin walls, you two," Darry said trying to sound serious, but it was obvious he was teasing us. Plus it didn't help him that I heard him start laughing. The four said good bye, then it was just Two-Bit and me. "Well that was fun," I smiled once I finally calmed down.

Two-Bit also calmed down but he was still smiling like me. His face that was into a smile changed to a face of concern and he put a hand on my shoulder. "But you're alright?"

I gave a soft smile, took his hand and my and kissed him. I smiled as I pulled back, "I'm fine, I swear."


	10. Chapter 10

I went back to school two days later. The police station called again a few times to see if I wanted to try talking to my parents again but I quickly said no. It was something I would never be open up to doing.

Sodapop and Steve said that the guys in the red car had stopped by the DX, but they didn't get the other guys' names, though. They all suggested I try talking to Cherry and Marcia again about it, since they could have found out more since the last time I asked them. "I have an idea," Cherry siad as the three of us walked down the hall.

"What?..." I asked hesitantly.

"You come to our part of town and hang out with us and we can all get to know these guys!"

"Great plan," I said sarcastically, "One problem."

"How are we gonna get Rain there and make sure she doesn't get hurt?" Marcia asked what I was about to.

"We'll just have to disguie you like a Soc." Cherry shrugged.

"I don't have any clothes that I could believably pass as a Soc, Cherry."

"Remember that time in gym class that you left your gym clothes at your house and I let you borrow my extra pair in my locker?"

"Yeah, why?"

Cherry and Marcia both smiled. I finally realized what they were thinking, "No… no, not happening."

"But Rain, it's the only way you can find out who they are without them knowing who you are." Cherry tried to sound persuasive.

"It's also the only way without you getting hurt. No offense, but we all know that if you walked through our part of town that half the guys there would try to hurt you," Marcia added. I knew she was right.

"I don't know… it's pretty risky if you ask me. And how would we even do that? If I walked through my part of town dressed like you two, half the guys would follow me around or there are even girls who would try to do something to me."

"Well Marcia and I were gonna hang out with those guys this weekend to try to get to know them since they're new in town with a group. I could say you're my cousin from outta town."

"But how am I going to get there, I only blend in with a crowd if I'm with Greasers."

"We can meet somewhere in between where both Socs and Greasers go,and it would have to be early in the morning."

I sighed, "I'll think about it… let me talk to my other friends about it and see what they say I should do."

They both nodded and we said goodybe as we all went our separate ways for our next classes… I honestly didn't feel too good about this plan. There were so many things that could go wrong with it. They could recognize me. Maybe they wouldn't believe that I was a Soc. There was just so much that could go wrong that I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to act like a Soc, talk like a Soc, anything. The only thing I really knew about them was the stereotype known to every Greaser in Tulsa that was the reason both groups hated each other, and that from the Socs I had actually gotten to know, not all of them were such horrible people that Greasers had always made them out to be.

I met up with Two-Bit and Ponyboy like I did everyday after school. Two-Bit wrapped his arm around my shoudlers and kissed my cheek. I smiled and pecked his lips, earning an eye roll from Ponyboy, which should've offended me, but made me laugh instead. "You won't be rolling your eyes when you get your first girlfriend," Two-Bit patted Pony's head. He chuckled and pulled his head away.

Everybody got home from their jobs at around six o'clock. I had been pretty quiet since the walk home, considering I was thinking of when I should bring up the plan that Cherry and Marcia thought up. We cleaned up after dinner and I decided to bring it up. "I talked with Cherry and Marcia about Griffin and his little crew again, today," I started.

All eyes were on me now. "What'd they say?" Darry asked.

"Well, they still don't know much about the but they had an idea of a way we could find out…"

"What was their idea?" Pony asked with a confused look.

I bit my lip. "Their idea is that, I… I go with them and their friends this weekend to their part of town and hang out with them and a bunch of other Socs."

Two-Bit's eyes widened. "Wait, what?!"

"And how the hell do they expect that to work?" Steve asked, clearly unconvinced that their plan wouldn't work.

"Cherry said that she could lend me osme of her stuff, cause we wear the same size."

Soda looked confused. "How do you know that you two wear the same size?"

"Cause she let me borronw her gym clothes once at school."

Two-Bit sighed, "Rain, I don't know about this. What if you're found out?"

I shrugged a little. "It was dark when they saw us. And maybe if I look different, they won't be able to tell."

"Do you really wanna go through with it?" Darry asked, unsure.

"It's the only way… and if I do, you guys are gonna have to help me. No matter how ridiculous or hard, you all have to help us."

…_Friday night…_

I was in my bed staring at the the ceiling. I couldn't fall asleep. I was too nervous for sleep.

Soda and Steve agreed to let us use the DX… more like Soda convinced Steve. Since Steve is the king of all Soc-hating Greasers, only his best friend could convince him to help… anyway, they would open the DX earlier and I would go in through the back door. I would go to the bathroom and wait for Cherry and Marcia there. They would get in through the back door too then come to the bathroom. Cherry's parents were out of town, so she'd be able to get outta the house early on a Saturday and have no one be suspicious. She would bring an extra pair of clothes that I would change into and they'd help me change my hair or whatever. Soda would take the bag with my clothes and put it in his locker or in the back at the DX. Then at the end of the day,we would all meet at the Dingo so I could change back into my clothes and give Cherry her's back. One thing that made this plan easier, was the Marcia got Randy and his crew to help us out since they didn't bother Greasers anymore.

I looked at my clock… _12:37am_… I sighed in frustration at the time. There was a knock on my door. "Come in," I said even though I wasn't too sure who it was - I was just thankful that I wore a sweatshirt and pajame pants since it was chilly, instead of my usual t-shirt and shorts.

The person walked in and turned on my bedside table lamp and sat on the edge of my bed. "Two-Bit, what're you doing here?" I asked.

He shrugged a bit. "Just wanted to see how you were doing cause I know before you were quiet… you doing ok?"

I sat up. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

He shrugged again. "I don't know… you just seemed nervous before, that's all."

"Why would I be nervous?..."

"Rain, c'mon it's late, don't play that game."

I looked up and hugged my knees into my chest, then buried my chin between them. "I'm scared for tomorrow…" My voice was quiet, and I let out a nervous chuckle.

"You don't have to be scared. You can do it, plus we'll all be helping you."

"But what if I'm found out? They will literally kill me and you know it."

"Ok, I wasn't supposed to tell you this, but don't tell Darry I did," his voice was quiet, "He's having us all not too far behind you all. But far enough where none of will get hurt, but if something happens to you, we'll be there."

I chuckled at that. "It's just crazy that this is the only way… I don't even act or talk like a Soc."

"Act like you have everything handed to you on a silver platter," he teased.

I chuckled again and pushed him a little by the shoulder. "I'm serious."

He took my hand in his. "You're gonna be fine, and you're gonna do great, I know it… look, I'm sleeping on the couch tonight so if you need anything, I'll be here. Alright?" I nodded. He stood up, kissed my forehead, then walke dout closing the door behind him him, quietly saying "goodnight". I layed back down on my bed and fell asleep.

**I'm bad at author's notes and always will be so I'm sorry… oh and Alex, if you see this is you decided that you should read this since I told you I finally posted this on here not just watt pad now and you got excited when I told you, and considering I got you and Sara into the Outsiders… HI GIRLIE =^-^= tell Sara I say hi to her, too! 3**


	11. Chapter 11

Someone was gently shaking my shoulders. "Rain, c'mon. Get up, ya gotta get ready to meet Cherry and Marcia," someone said. I sat up and waited for my eyes to adjust, "What?" I heard Two-Bit laugh, "You're going with Steve and Sodapop to the DX to meet Cherry and Marcia." My eyes widened when I realized what he was talking about. I pushed him out of my room so I could get dressed. I put on jeans, black sneakers, a button up shirt with a knot in the front and the sleeves rolled up. I just left my hair out for now since I know Cherry and Marcia would most likely be changing it or something.

After we ate breakfast, Darry brought us all to the DX then he left for work. Cherry came about twenty minutes after Soda and Steve opened the place. She dragged me to the bathroom since I had been waiting outside with the two boys since no one was there yet, and handed me the bag with clothes in it. I went into one of the stalls and took the clothes out from the bag. _"Let it not be said that I didn't suffer for the safety of me and my friends," _I thought. "Marcia said she'll be here in about ten minutes," Cherry said through the stall door. The clothes she gave me was a somewhat puffy light green shirt- I think it's what was called a _poodle skirt_\- and a cream colored cotton sweater. I put on the pair of tights I had bought, and then put on the white ked sneakers that she brought as well.

I put my clothes in my own bag then walked out of the stall. Cherry smiled a bit and I glared at her a little bit, unhappy with my own appearance. How did people dress like this all the time? Marcia walked into the bathroom with a pink plastic box. She placed it on the counter where the sink was and took the stool from against the wall in front of the counter as well. She smiled and motioned for me to sit. She put her hands on my shoulders from behind, "Ready to be a Soc?"

I sighed. "Ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

…_thirty minutes later…_

I finally understood why it took so many girls to take so long to get ready in the morning.

"Nobody is going to recognize you that you're not a Soc," Cherry smiled as I stood in front of the mirror. Aside from the clothes they lent me, they put makeup on me and curled the edges of my now straight hair. Thankfully they didn't use too much makeup on me; blush, mascara and lip gloss was our agreement. It wasn't too much but it was enough to make me look different considering I never wore makeup. Honestly, I had never worn any before. "Ready to go out and show your friends?" I gave a nervous chuckle, "They have to see me at some point."

The three of us walked out and went into the main part of the DX. Marcia cleared her throat loudly and the gang all turned to us. All their jaws dropped a bit as they stepped behind me and pushed me forward. "Who are you and what did you do with my girlfriend?" Two-Bit teased and walked up to me. I sucked on my teeth and quickly kissed him. "What's a Soc like you kissing a Greaser like me?" he joked.

I slapped his shoulder playfully. "Knock it off, will ya?"

"No one is gonna recognize you," Steve said.

I looked at Cherry and Marcia and mouthed "thank you". They gave a weak smile, but I could tell they were uncomfortable. I went over to the counter and handed the bags to Soda, "Thank you for helping me." He nodded and went to the back to put the bags away.

Cherry, Marcia and I walked to the door, all the guys giving me a thumbs up. I gave a weak smile and followed the two out the door. "Ok… so what's my story?" I asked.

"Your name is Rose. You're a childhood friend of mine who lived here in Tulsa but moved to Georgia for your dad's job eight years ago and you finally convinced your parents to come and visit, but only for a few days," Cherry answered in a single breath.

My eyes widened for a second and I let out a slight chuckle. "Well you sure got this figured out."

…_thirty minutes later…_

Two cars including the red car drove up to the three of us as we walked. I recognized the blue one as Randy's car. One of them honked their car horn and pulled over next to us on the sidewalk. Cherry and Marcia walked toward the two cars. I took a deep breath and followed close behind them. Everyone said their hello's bur I kinda just stood there, not speaking but just watching to see how to act. Cherry put a hand on my shoulder, "This is Rose. We were friends growing up but her family moved to Georgia. But she finally convinced her parents to visit back here." I smiled and waved a bit. Everyone told me their names and I found out that Griffin's crew was named Joseph, Andrew and Caleb.

We were all gonna head back to their part of town. The three of us went to Randy's car since he knew our plan and was helping us. I was still nervous about the whole thing, but I tried to hide it and hoped it didn't show. "You're doing good, Rain," Marcia smiled as we got into Randy's car.

"I couldn't even tell it was you at first," Randy said.

I gave a weak smile.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but it's amazing how you're not nervous," Cherry said.

My eyes widened a bit. "Me? Oh no, my heart feels like it's pounding out of my chest right now. It's racing. You should have seen me last night, I could barely sleep. My boyfriend stayed over cause I was so nervous."

"Well you sure don't show it," Randy said. He started the car and followed Griffin's car.

We stopped right near the edge of the West side of town. There was a park there where Socs and brave Greasers went. What I mean by "brave Greasers", is that since the park was right on the edge of Soc territory, they have a pretty good chance of getting jumped. Most Greasers didn't go there unless they were looking for a fight. Dallas had gone there a few times with Tim Shepard and Buck Merill to blow off steam, but they were the only people I ever knew to go to this park. And they didn't even go very often.

We all basically hung out there for a few hours and drove around a bit. A few other people from town had come to hang out with us as well. I wasn't really paying attention to the conversations going on around me till Griffin called "Rose". I looked up. "You look really familiar, have I seen you before?" he asked.

I shrugged and tried to act natural. "Ever been to Georgia?"

He shook his head.

"Then I guess I just have one of those faces," I slightly chuckled. I hoped he would buy that.

He nodded. "Anyway… I have a question for you."

"What is it?"

He gave a nervous chuckle. "I was wondering if, before you leave town, if maybe you would, I don't know, go out with me sometime?"

My eyes widened a bit. "Oh! Uh, I… I can't."

"Why not?"

"I have a boyfriend already."

"So what?"

I was pretty shocked by his reaction that he was actually suggesting that I cheat. Well, that "Rose" cheat. "Well, we've been going pretty steady. I don't wanna cheat on him."

"What's his name?"

"Keith." I cursed at myself inside my head for my answer.

He nodded and turned back to the rest of his friends. I went back by Cherry and Marcia. "What was that about?" Marcia asked, obviously referring to my conversation with Griffin. I rolled my eyes and gave an annoyed sigh, "Tell ya later."

It was about 5:30 when we all decided to head back in to town. Thankfully, I saw no one I knew all day and they wouldn't call me out like, "Hey Rain!" or whatever they would say. We walked back and I saw a group of Greasers walking. I couldn't really tell who they were till I saw one in a dark hoodie, two of the four in DX shirts, and one wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt. Griffin smirked a little and looked in their direction. I bit my lip and nudged Cherry's arm. She gave a confused look and I pointed in the direction of my friends. "They're probably on their way to meet us at the Dingo," I whispered. I saw the four say some things to each other then all, except for Pony, went inside the Dingo. Pony sat on the curb in front.

"We'll be right back," Griffin smirked. Marcia grabbed his arm, "Not with Rose here… they don't really have fights where she lives so she hates them. Even more than Cherry and me." He looked at me then back at Marcia, "He's just a greaser." The four walked off.

I cringed at what I had just heard. _"He's just greaser." _I never heard such a horrible thing in my life, my parents weren't even that bad.

Even Randy's eyes widened at Griffin's comment. I was shaking, both from fear and rage as I saw the four walk toward Ponyboy. He was looking down at the ground and had no idea of the four Socs on their way to hurt him. "I have to go help him," I said. Cherry grabbed my arm to stop me, "No, you can't."

"Why not?"

"Griffin, Joseph, Andrew and Caleb all think you're a Soc. If they find out you're a Greaser now, they'll hurt both of you. And there's a lot more they could do to you since you're a girl, and you know it," Randy answered, making me cringe again.

I bit my lip to keep from screaming to Ponyboy. I looked back at them and the four had him pushed up against the wall by the edge of his hoodie. Two-Bit ran out the Dingo and pushed the four off of Pony. One tackled him to the ground as Soda and Steve came running out. I squeaked and covered my mouth with my hand to prevent from anything else coming out of my mouth. "I can't watch this," I mumbled to Cherry, Marcia and Randy, "I'll meet up with you later." Before they got a chance to protest, I ran off in the other direction to a payphone a few blocks away.

I put a few coins into it and dialed the house number. Darry should've been home by now. "Hello?" Darry answered.

"Darry? It's Rain," I said.

"Where are you all? I thought you'd be back by now."

"Well we would be, but I'm still dressed as a Soc."

"What… what's going on?"

"The guys that jumped me and Two-Bit that night. Him, Sodapop, Ponyboy and Steve are fighting with them right now. And Cherry and Randy said I couldn't go help them cause they thought I was a Soc, so I ran a few blocks away cause I just couldn't just watch and do nothing. So I called you."

"Well first of all, they were right. If they find out you're a Greaser, they'll hurt you all even more. I'll be right there," he said then hung up.


	12. Chapter 12

I sat down on the bench and covered my face with my hands to try and calm down. "Rain!" I heard someone call my name. I looked up and saw Cherry and Marcia. They sat down next to me on the back at both my sides. "Griffin, Joseph, Caleb and Andrew all left," Marcia said, "Your friends are all waiting for you at the Dingo." I nodded and we walked to the Dingo in silence.

We went in and I looked around to find my friends. I saw them sitting in a booth in the back. I quickly went to the bathroom to change back into my old clothes. When I finished changing, I took off the makeup and put my hair into a braid so the curls and such wouldn't show. I gave Cherry back her clothes, thanked the two for their help and they left.

I walked out of the bathroom and toward the booth they were in. Steve glanced at me, gave a little smile, turned to Two-Bit and nodded toward me. Two-Bit turned, jumped up from his seat and quickly and tightly wrapped his arms around me. "Rain, are you ok?" he asked. I wrapped my arms tightly around him and buried my head in his shoulder, "I'm fine. Are you ok? I saw that one Soc tackle you." He nodded, "I'm fine." He let me go and I hugged the rest of them. We all sat back down, Two-Bit wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

"Are the rest of you ok?" I asked Sodapop, Ponyboy and Steve. They all nodded. I looked at Ponyboy, "I'm sorry."

They all gave a confused look. "For what?" Ponyboy asked.

"When those Socs got you, I was still with them and that's when they saw you."

"It's not your fault," he said, "They could've hurt you too."

A second later, Darry came in- all worked up- which was understandable. "You guys all ok?" he asked when he reached us. We all nodded and he calmed down.

We went back to the house since it was getting dark. As soon as we all got inside, I was bombarded with questions. "So how was it playing Soc for a day?" Two-Bit asked as we all sat down. I rolled my eyes and he laughed, "That bad, huh?"

"Well it's not like Socs are the best people around," Sodapop said.

"That's true, but not all of them are bad. Randy, Cherry and Marcia are fine, considering they helped me do this. Jeez, you should hear how some of them talk about us, though! When the four of them, the ones who own the red car, went to Pony and Marcia, ya know what he said?" They all shook their heads. "_He's just a greaser." _I repeated.

They all gave angry scowls and I hears hissing sounds in different directions. "Nice people," Steve said sarcastically.

I nodded. "Try spending a whole day with 'em. When they went by Pony I ran off cause I couldn't watch the fight you guys had with them. My bottom lip was bleeding cause I literally was biting my lip to keep from screaming to you guys."

"That's the reason you called here, right?" Darry asked.

"That is correct."

"So what are the four guys in the red car names?" Two-Bit asked.

"Well there was that one who, ya know, Griffin. Then his four little stooges are Joseph, Caleb and Andrew. They go to the high school starting this Monday and two of them are juniors. One is a sophomore. One is a senior. I'm not sure which is which though."

"Well, this'll be fun," Ponyboy sighed a bit.

…_later that night…_

Sodapop had gone out with Steve on a double date. Steve's girlfriend Evie had a friend that she thought would be perfect for him, so with a lot of persuasion, Soda agreed to go. It was good for him that he start going out again. It kinda meant that he was getting over Sandy… Darry and Ponyboy were doing something inside the house. I was sitting on the front steps with Two-Bit, like we had started to do nearly every night. It was peaceful and quiet, which was pretty rare for any of us.

"Can I tell you the craziest thing that happened today?" I asked and nodded. "Ok, so my story was that I was visiting from Georgia since I moved there eight years ago for my dad's job and I finally convinced my parents to visit back here."

He laughed a bit at that, "Who came up with that?"

"Cherry Valance."

"Figures, you're too smart for that… anyways, what's the craziest thing that happened?"

"You're not gonna like this, but… that Soc Griffin asked me out."

His eyes widened and he stood up with fists clenched. "I'm gonna kill him!"

I pulled him back down next to me. "Don't worry, I said no. And technically, he was asking out 'Rose the Soc' from Georgia, not 'Rain the Greaser'. And even then I said I had a boyfriend."

"Really?"

I nodded. "But when he asked me his name, I panicked and said Keith." He cringed a little at his real name and I couldn't help but laugh. "No Soc knows your real name, so we're fine. Besides, they think that 'Keith' is in Georgia."

He chuckled, "Good point."

I gave a teasing smile. "Ha- told ya so."

…_next Monday morning…_

"But none of those bums are in your grade," I argued to Ponyboy.

He shrugged, "I'll still have to deal with them, and for two reasons. One: I'm a Greaser. Two: I'm a freshman."

"What does being a freshman have to do with anything?"

"Everybody loves to get the freshman, for some reason."

"Well, I have to deal with them too. One: I'm a Greaser, just like you. Two: I'm a girl, which opens a lot more doors for them."

Two-Bit draped his arms over both our shoulders, "Well, neither of you gotta worry cause I'll protect both of y'all." I smiled and we walked into the school. "Besides, two of them are juniors so I got more to worry about than either of you."

"Well, you should've been in your senior year nearly a year and a half ago, so that's your doing," Ponyboy teased.

Two-Bit blew it off, "School is fun, why would I wanna leave?"

"There's always college."

"But ya can't play around in college like ya can in high school. I'd go nuts in college." I laughed. "What? You know I wouldn't be able to handle it. Could you two?"

Ponyboy and I just looked at each other. I shrugged, "I don't know… Pony, you'd probably be able to handle college better than any of us."

"Darry and Sodapop say I'll probably end up getting a scholarship," he said, "But I could never go too far away. I would miss home too much."

I shrugged again, "I don't know what I'll do… I kinda wanna go to college, but one: I don't wanna leave you guys. Two: I know it'll help me in the future, though. Besides, times'll be different by the time any of us get to college, it'll be the 70s so let's see how things are then," I said hopefully.

"Well, if either of you go, don't go too far or I'm taking the first bus to follow ya," Two-Bit laughed.

**Boring chapter, deal with it, I'm still trying to catch up with my notebook for this and my watt pad and I finished writing another chapter for watt pad and I still have to update and I'm kinda just sitting here like "screw it" but then I'm also sitting here like "nah, I gotta get this done"**


	13. Chapter 13

I went to homeroom, afraid of which of the four Socs would be en up being a Sophomore. I got to the room and saw the one who was named Caleb. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes. I walked past his seat, looking down in case he recognized me. He gave me a dirty look as I walked past to my seat, and I never thought I would be so happy to get a dirty look from a Soc.

…_the end of the day…_

I headed to the entrance of the school to meet up with Two-Bit and Ponyboy but someone grabbed my arm and pulled me into a closet. They closed the door and locked it. "Open this door, I growled and turned to face the person, who I saw was Caleb.

"Look, I just gotta ask you something," he said.

"And you had to pull me into a closet to ask a question?"

He rolled his eyes at my sarcasm. "Watch yourself, Grease… look, do you got a relative from Georgia named Rose?"

My heart pounded in my chest. "No, I don't. Now let me out of this damn closet."

He unlocked the door and I ran out to the front steps. Ponyboy was sitting reading. "Where's Two-Bit?" I asked him. He looked up from the book, "He went back inside to look for you. Where were you anyway?" "I'll tell you later," I said then went back into the school to find him.

I saw Two-Bit with Caleb. "Don't you ever grab my girl's arm again, you got that?"

"I was just asking her a question. And you don't tell me what to do, Grease, or you'll be sorry," Caleb threatened and narrowed his eyes.

Before Two-Bit had a chance to respond, I ran over to him and put my hand on his arm, "Ready to go?" He nodded a bit, then glared at Caleb as we walked away. Ponyboy was still sitting there reading when we got outside. "You had me nearly scared to death," I said to Two-Bit when we started walking. "What happened?" Ponyboy asked.

"He nearly got into a fight with one of those Socs."

"That guy had his hand son you, Rain. You really thought I was gonna let that go?" Two-Bit asked.

I sighed. "I guess not. But please don't scare me like that."

…_.a few hours later…_

"Who's that girl with Steve?" I asked Ponyboy. The two of us looked out the window while the rest got back from their jobs and walked up to the house. Ponyboy shrugged, "Never saw her in my life." They all got to the door and Ponyboy and me quickly sat back down and went back to our homework. Steve had his arm around the girl and I guessed it was Evie, though I could've been wrong. Two-Bit sat next to me on the couch, wrapped his arm around my shoulders, and kissed my cheek. "Who's that?" I whispered nodding toward Steve and the girl/

"His girlfriend Evie," he whispered back.

My eyes widened a bit. "So _that's _Evie…"

He nodded. "She wanted to meet the girl brave enough to spend a day with Socs and live through it… and she didn't believe that I had a girlfriend who I've been with for more than a month."

I laughed and Steve and Evie came by us. "So you're Rain?" Evie smiled.

I smiled and nodded back. "That's me…. You're Evie?"

She was still smiling and nodded.

The guys all suggested that the two of us go out and get to know each other since it was weird that I had really no friends who were girls. Not just Cherry and Marcia cause we couldn't really go out and hang out with each other like I could if I became friends with Evie. But not without a fair warning that she would not hesitate to speak her mind and she just said whatever she thought.

The two of us went to the Dingo to meet up with two of her other friends, Suzie and Candy. Apparently, Candy was the girl that Soda went out with that night, and they had another date planned over the weekend. The three of them all went to my high school, apparently. Evie was a junior, Candy was a sophomore like me, and Suzie was a freshman. There weren't many Greasers in my homeroom, but apparently, Candy was always there. Suzie apparently had a major crush on Ponyboy but whenever she was gonna try to talk to him, she got cold feet, which I actually thought was pretty adorable if you ask me. It seemed while I was with them, I adjusted quickly to talking with them.

"So how long have you been dating Two-Bit?" Candy asked smiling.

I felt my cheeks get pink and I tried to hold back a smile, "A few months."

Evie spoke up, "Have you guys…"

I realized what she meant. "NO!... um, I don't… I don't, ya know, before I'm married."

She nodded. "Understandable. Man, when Steve said you were different from other Greaser girls, he wasn't kidding." She gave a smile.

"I remember when Two-Bit dumped Kathy," Suzie said.

"Well, she had it coming. She always went on about how she didn't like him hanging around you and the rest of them boys so much. She seemed clingy if you ask me," Candy shrugged.

"He told me he wasn't for the jealous type," I said.

"If ya ask me, she was a pain in the behind," Evie shrugged.

"What about Sandy?" Evie asked.

I scoffed, "She cheated on Sodapop."

"And Candy over here was jumping for joy when she found out that Sodapop Curtis was on the market," Evie laughed and Suzie laughed with her.

Candy put her hands up in defense. "I can't help it that he's cute and sweet," she chuckled.

I laughed again. "She's got a point. I'll admit, he is a sweetheart."

Candy pointed at me and looked at Evie and Suzie, "I like her." We all busted out laughing. "Ok, and what about you, Suzie? Ponyboy?"

She shrugged and her cheeks got pink. "He's so sweet. And adorable, and smart and-"

Evie snapped her fingers in front of Suzie's face. "Earth to Suzie."

"What about you and Steve?" I asked her.

"Do not get her started, please. She'll never stop," Candy said rolling her eyes.

Evie huffed, "Fine… now Rain." I gave a questioning look. She looked around the Dingo then back at me. "How did you survive being with Socs all last Saturday?" she whispered.

Candy looked at me with wide eyes. Suzie nearly choked on her drink. "You did what?!" she coughed.

"It was this thing I had to do to find out the names of the Socs who jumped me and Two-Bit one night," I explained, "But you guys can't tell anyone about it, got it?" They all nodded, Suzie crossed her heart.

…_that night…_

Evie, Candy and Suzie weren't bad at all. I had never had real friends who were girls. I always knew the gang and that was it I mean, I talked with Angela Shepard sometimes, but we weren't close. And you can't really count Cherry and Marcia cause like I said, we could never go and hang out on the weekends or after school or something. I know they had reputations, and I didn't wanna ruin them.

I was sitting outside with Two-Bit again on the front steps of the house. "So how was hangin' out with Evie?" he asked.

"It was actually pretty fun. I met her two other friends, Candy and Suzie," I answered.

"Good, now you have other friends who aren't guys like a regular teenage girl." He joked.

I hit his arm playfully. "You're a pain, ya know that?" I teased and he laughed.

**Hi! Ok, so when I put this chapter on watt pad, I said this as well, when I made up the other girls (Candy and Suzie) I forgot about Sandy from the book and that the two girls names rhymed… I didn't mean for that to happen so just leave it and there's no irony in that, cause it's just Candy's nickname for Candice (one of my best friend's names) cause I even have last names for the three girls and Candy is Hispanic so yeah, there ya go**


	14. Chapter 14

"Rain, wait up!" I heard someone call. I was wlaking to school with Ponyboy and Two-Bit. I turned and saw Sodapop and Candy running toward us. "What're you doing here? Should't you be at the DX?" Two-Bit asked, obviously confused by his presence. Soda shook his head, "Not yet. And besides, I'm walking Candy to school."

We got to the school and Soda left. Ponyboy waved goodbye to us and his brother then left for his first class. Two-Bit kissed me then went off to wherever and whatever he does in the school. "SO, where's Evie and Suzie?" I asked Candy as we started toward hoemroom. "Well, Suzie's mom drives her to school, and Evie always goes to see Steve in the morning before school starts then she catches a bus here," she explained and I nodded. "Rain, can I ask you something?" She bit her lip.

I nodded, "Sure. What's going on?"

"How did you know when you and Two-Bit were an official couple?"

"Well after a few dates, he asked me to be his girl. He ven gave me a leather bracelet with his name and he got one with my name. But when he asked me to be his girl , that 's when I knew. Why?"

She looked down and shrugged a bit, chewing on her lip.

"It's about Sodapop isn't it?"

She nodded.

"Well… what about him?"

"We've gone out three times now but I'm not sure if we're actually a couple, yet. And I see him flirting with girls sometimes at the DX during hours so I don't know." I chuckled at bit and she frowned at me, "Rain, I'm serious!"

I put my hand on her shoulder. "Candy, I've known that boy since we were kids, he's like a big brother to me. I can tell when he likes someone, ad that someone is you."

She gave a small smile but it quickly faded. "Then what about when he flirts with girls when he's at the DX?"

I chuckled again. "You're dating -Boy, ya gotta get used to that. Do you know how many girls in this town would kill to be in your position? His boss has him do that to attract customers. Always has, but he never means it unless he really likes someone, and like I said, that someone is you."

She smiled. "You really think so?"

I smiled and nodded. "I'm one-hundred percent sure of it."4

…_the next day…_

I was at my locker waiting for Candy to go to homeroom. I looked at the clock on the wall… _8:43am_… class started at nine. I leaned my head against the locker impatiently and crossed my arms over my chest. "Rain!" I looked up and saw Candy running toward me. She reached me and she had the biggest smile I'd ever seen. "Guess what?!" Before I got the chance to answer, she told me, "Soda asked me to be his girl this morning when I went to meet him at the DX!" I smiled, "Told ya he would, now let's get to class!"

…_that Friday night…_

We all went to the Dingo, and by we, I mean: Steve and Evie, Soda and Candy, Two-Bit and me, and Ponyboy and Suzie. Apparently, Ponyboy liked Suzie too. They were in the same homeroom but she was a year older since he was bumped up into ninth grade since the kid was like freaking Einstein.

We decided that after the Dingo we would go to the drive-in. I always got a little nervous going there. IT was one of the few places that was ot exclusively Soc-territory or Greaser-territory, so there was that. Almost every kid in town went to that place, whether they had a car or not. Plus, it didn't open till the sun started going down. So when it got dark, everybody had to watch out. It was crazy.

"Rain, you alright?" Two-Bit asking me, taking me out of my thoughts.

I nodded and smiled. "Yeah, just thinking."

We all paid for our snacks then met back at the seats. There were eight of us and we fit into two rows. The first row was where me and Two-Bit were sitting, the Suzie next to me in the middle and Ponyboy on the end. In the second row, Sodapop behind Two-Bit, Candy behind me, Evie behind Suzie and Steve behind Ponyboy. We had them in the corner cause the rest of us suspected they were gonna start making out during the movie, considering how long they had been together, and _nobody _wanted to see that.

The movie was _Muscle Beach Party_. I wasn't for beach movies. For some reason, people liked them. I liked movies with Elvis Presley, Cary Grant, or Humphrey Bogart. Sure, Humphrey Bogart was dead, but I still liked his acting. Especially _Casablanca _and _The African Queen_, which are my two favorite movies.

Ponyboy isn't the only one who liked movies.

The pre-movie cartoons ended and the movie began. "Ya know I'll probably fall asleep like I did on our first date," I whispered to Two-Bit and he laughed. "I expected as much."

…_one hour later…_

"…up… wake up, Rain," someone said then I realized it was Two-Bit, "The movie's nearly over. I figured you'd wanna walk around till it's over." I smiled, "You know me too well." Before we got up, I looked around at the group of friends surrounding us. Steve and Evie were kissing, just like we all suspected. Sodapop had his arm around Candy and her head leaned on his shoulder. Suzie and Ponyboy were sitting close together and were holding hands. I smiled and turned to Soda. "Look at your brother," I whispered. He looked over at the two and smiled at his little brother and the scene in front of him.

Two-Bit and I got up and went toward the back near the concessions. There weren't many people back there, just a few other couples and I could see Socs in their cars. He wrapped his arm tight around my shoulders in case anyone tried to pull anything. "Did you see the poster for next week's movie?" he asked. I shook my head.

He led me over to the entrance of the drive-in. "Can't you just tell me?" I asked. He smirked and shook his head. I rolled my eyes. He put his hands over my eyes. "What're you-" "Just go till I say stop," he cut me off. I sighed in annoyance and I heard him laugh as he led me forward, at least I think forward. Remember, I couldn't see. He stopped and took his hands off my eyes, "Now look."

I opened my eyes and saw a scene with a picture of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in _Casablanca_. The sign said: _Next Friday! 8pm and 10pm! Casablanca starring Humphrey Bogart as Rick and Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa! _I felt a huge smile form on my lips and I turned and faced him. "I knew you'd like that," he chuckled and kissed my forehead, "I was planning on takin' ya back here next week to see it."

Before I could answer, someone tapped my shoulder from behind and I jumped. I turned around to see a laughing Candy. "We finally found you two," she laughed.

Everybody turned to the sign. Steve gave a weird look, "_Casablanca_… what's that?"

"It's that movie with the actor with that lisp thing and died in '57," Soda answered, but I could tell he was unsure.

"It has that actress… Ingrid something," Evie added.

"Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman," Ponyboy finally said.

Soda snapped his fingers and nodded. "Yeah, them! I knew that." Candy bit back a laugh.

"It's my favorite movie of all time and the two of us coming to see it," I smiled.

Two-Bit nodded and smiled. "Well, there's my answer."

Ponyboy gave a weird look, "You sure, Two-Bit? I haven't seen it yet, but I know it's a real serious movie."

Two-Bit shrugged. "What's your point?" Everybody exchanged weird looks and I held back a laugh. He threw his hands up," I can be serious when I want to?" He looked at me. "Can't I?"

I chuckled and nodded. "Believe it or not, he can. I've witnessed it first-hand."

Everybody looked at me like I had two heads. Two-Bit smiled in victory. "Told ya so."

We all left the drive-in, agreeing that Ponyboy and Suzie would come with us to see the movie next week. Soda, Candy, Steve and Evie still weren't sure though. I honestly think they would all love it, but that could just be me defending my favorite movie… which is probably it.

We all went back to the East Side. Soda wen to walk Candy, Steve with Evie, Pony with Suzie. Two-Bit and I walked back to the house and sat at the front steps. "I have to tell you something important," he said.

I panicked and figured the worst. "I knew this would happen." I buried my face in my hands.

"Rain, what are you-"

"You're breaking up with me… I knew this would happen. Every time something good happens in my life, it gets ripped out from under me… I knew it, I should've expected th-"

His lips were against mine and I stopped. I kissed him back. He pulled away and smiled, "I'm not breaking up with you."

I gave a nervous chuckle. "Oh… sorry, I panicked."

He now looked nervous. "You don't wanna break up, right?"

I shook my head quickly. "No, that's why I got so nervous." He obviously calmed down. "So what's important?"

"My mom wants you to come over our place sometime… she wants "_to meet the girl who I've had my first real meaningful relationship with" _or whatever her exact words were," he chuckled a bit.

My heart started to pound in my chest. I'd never met his mom, or his sister. I know his old man left when he was a kid, but I'd still never met him either. I kinda remember seeing his mom in the halls at school once when we were all little cause he was in trouble once and he was walking with her down the halls, and she may have looked at me and gave a smile, but I never actually met her. Honestly, the only parents I had ever met of any of my friends, were Mr and Mrs Curtis.

"Candy, can I sleep over your place tonight?" I said into the speaker of the phone. "Yeah, sure. You alright?" she asked. I nodded thought she couldn't see me, "Yeah, I just need to talk about something and need help with it." "Yeah, of course." With that, I hung up.

Darry said it was ok to spend the night at Candy's. While I was on the phone with her, I secretly hoped she would call Suzie and Evie and invite them as well. Judging by the seriousness in my voice, maybe she took the hint. Usually I would talk to the gang about my problems, but this was something I needed girl's opinions for.

I walked over to Candy's, which took about five minutes since houses weren't too far apart. I got to her house and she was sitting on the front step waiting. She smiled and stood up, "I hope you don't mind, I invited Evie and Suzie too." I smiled and nodded, thankful that she did. We went inside and up to her room. She took my overnight bag and pillow and she put them against her wall. Right after, the doorbell rang and Candy came back upstairs with Evie and Suzie following behind her. "Ok, so what did you wanna talk about that was important?" Candy asked.

I sighed. "Have any of you ever been invited to meet your boyfriends family?"

"Do past boyfriends count?"

I nodded and they did the same. "Why?" Suzie asked.

"Cause I was talking with Two-Bit after the movie and his mom and sister wanna meet me."

"I would've thought you met them already, considering you've known him your whole life, practically." Evie gave a confused look and sounded kinda shocked.

I shrugged. "I really only knew Darry, Soda, and Pony's parents. Johnny's were like mine, so I avoided them at all costs. I met Steve's dad once, and never wanted to again. Dallas', never. Two-Bit's mom, I think once when we were little but it was only like, a smile or something. And his dad left them when we were all just kids. We all really hung out at the Curtis' cause they had the best parents, who were like parents to the rest of us.

"Wait, you met Steve's dad before, but not Two-Bit's mom?" Evie said.

"I still don't understand the problem," Suzie said, obviously confused by my scenario.

"I've never had to meet any of my past boyfriend's parents and I don't know what to do." I buried my face in my hands.

"Has Two-Bit ever met your parents?" Candy asked.

I couldn't help but laugh a little at her question. "I forgot. I didn't know you guys before I started living with the Curtis'. And yes he has, he wanted to strangle the last time he saw them."

"Why?" Suzie gave a shocked expression.

"My parents were arrested about a month ago, maybe a little more for child abuse and neglect. They got a death penalty. They came to 'apologize' and Two-Bit said he wanted to hurt 'em when they came."

They all looked at me with said faces. "I'm sorry," Candy mumbled.

I blew it off. "It's fine really… but what am I supposed to do about his mom and sister?"

Their expressions quickly changed. "You're overthinking this. If they're anything like him, it should be a fun night." Candy shrugged.

"Or you'll go nuts," Evie teased and we all laughed.

"You know, he really can be serious when he wants to be," I said when we all calmed down.

"Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it."

**I have no idea why this chapter was so long, compared to the previous ones but whatever… reading is good for you and makes you smarter, though I doubt fan fiction makes people smarter, well maybe in this case since it takes place in the past? I don't know…. By the way! When I mentioned that her favorite movie was **_**Casablanca **_** was her favorite movie and that she loved Elvis Presley, remember that- you'll see it in future chapters **


	15. Chapter 15

It was really good getting a girl's point of view on meeting my boyfriend's family. Right now, Candy was over and was helping me choose what to wear. I usually didn't care what I wore, but I wanted to make a good impression. I usually just wear what's comfortable and what I like, but first impressions can set a lot into place.

"Does this look ok?" I asked her hopefully. I put on a black skirt than ended halfway up my thighs that Candy lent me, a plain gray sweater, tan/black tights, black converse and a leather cuff bracelet.

She gave a questioning look. "Turn around and face the wall," she commanded while placing one hand on her hip and spun her pointer finger on her other hand in a circle in the air. I did as she said and bit my lip. "Now face me again," she said. I turned back around and when I saw her face she had a smile. "You look great."

I gave a weak smile, "You sure?" She nodded and dragged me out of the room to the living room where Two-Bit was waiting to take me to his house. He stood up from the couch smiling when he saw me. "You look great," he said and smiled. I smiled back and gave him a quick kiss as we walked out the house to go over to his. His car was still in the shop, like it was every other week it seemed, so we couldn't take that. But it actually felt kinda nice walking.

It took about ten minutes to get to his house. I could feel my heart beat faster and faster in my chest as we walked up to the house. He took my hand in his and gave a reassuring smile, "You're gonna be fine." I smiled back a bit and he lead me into the house. "Anyone here?" he called. "In the kitchen!" someone, who I'm guessing was his mom, called from another room.

He led me to the kitchen where I saw the back of a woman who was a little shorter than him and had the same color of dirty blondish hair. She turned around and smiled at me. "You must be Rain," she said softly, still smiling. I smiled back at her and nodded. She shooed her son out of the room and motioned for me to sit with her at the small kitchen table. "I'm , but if you want you can just call me Lisa, that's my first name," she smiled.

I couldn't help but smile back. I just met her and she already seems like one of the sweetest people in the whole world. "My name's Raina, most people just call me Rain, but you can call Raina, if you want."

"That's a very lovely name… it feels so nice to have my son in a meaningful relationship with a girl like you, at least from what he's said about you."

"He talks about me?" I could feel my cheeks get pink and I prayed she didn't notice.

She chuckled and nodded. "Oh, yes. One night, he came home and kept going on and on and on about how wonderful you were and a whole bunch of good things."

We continued talking throughout dinner. She asked me about my schoolwork, my life with the Curtis', my interests, everything. I still felt kinda nervous that I would say the wrong thing, but I eventually eased up. When she started to ask me about what movies and music I like, she seemed kinda shocked that I said Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant, but not too much when I said Elvis Presley. "Keilah over here like Elvis Presley too," she smiled.

Keilah is Two-Bit's sister. She's ten and looks exactly like their mother. She has dirty blonde hair and green eyes. Two-Bit had practically helped raise her since their dad left. She didn't really remember him since he left when she was only two years old, but from what Two-Bit said, he didn't seem like a great guy.

Keilah put her hands up in defense. "There's nothing wrong with liking Elvis."

I chuckled and nodded. "I agree with Keilah."

Their mom chuckled. "I'm just kind of surprised that you like Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant. I mean, Bogie died back in, what? Fifty-six? Fifty-seven? And sure Cary Grant is still around, but he hasn't been in much lately other than that new movie of his _Walk Don't Run_, then before that was _Father Goose_ from two years ago."

I shrugged and chuckled a bit. "I just really like their acting, I guess. Especially Bogie's movie _Casablanca_."

"Which I'm taking you to see," Two-Bit whispered in my ear and I smiled.

gave her son a look. "I'm not deaf, Keith… and will you be able to handle a movie like _Casablanca_?" I was kinda shocked to see he didn't cringe at his real name like he would when anyone else called him that, but then I remembered that this was his _mother_.

He sighed in annoyance, causing his mother to give him a warning look. "Why does everyone keep saying that? I can be serious!"

"Well, I know that. But that movie is very _very _serious. Not to mention a serious romance story and that it takes place during a horrible time when there were German officials everywhere and just complete chaos."

"Well then if I don't like it, then I'll stay for Rain."

I tried to bit back a smile than started to form and I knew my cheeks were probably a bright pink. I saw smile at her son, obviously proud of his response. Keilah rolled her eyes, obviously bored by the conversation now going on around her- which earned a scolding look from her mother.

After we all finished eating, wanted to talk to me again. "Keith, watch your sister while I talk to Raina." He nodded and she brought me into her bedroom where she knew we could talk without her two children trying to listen in. "Raina, you can't tell Keith what I'm going to say… alright?"

I nodded quickly as we sat on the edge of her bed.

She nodded. "Now I know he's known you and all those other boys who you two are friends with almost all your lives. And I know you've been through a lot lately. Now I know that he isn't the most responsible kid on the block, and that's partly my own life… but he can be responsible when he wants to. Usually when he would get a girlfriend, the relationship would last about a week or two, maybe a little longer- but never too long. Sure, there was that girl Kathy, but I don't know… I just didn't trust her, or something, I don't know. Something about her just bothered me. But you… you've changed him for the better and for the better."

I gave a small smile.

"I'm sure you know of his drinking habits, don't you?"

I nodded.

"He won't verbally admit to thiss, but it's because of his father. I remember when he first left, he kept blaming himself that he did something wrong, and even though I promised him it wasn't his fault, he didn't believe me. When he turned fifteen, the drinking started. I know in this town it's not hard to get into that habit but still… anyway, I tried to get him to stop but nothing worked. I gave up on his eighteenth birthday, cause he was legally an adult at that point. It's his own choice." She paused for a moment and sighed, obviously not happy with his choice. "But ever since you two started going out, he doesn't drink nearly as much. Now that I think about it, I haven't seen it happen since that night you two first went out. I think, from a mother's point of view- that he would drink to fill some sort of emptiness that his father created when he left. I know that sort of thing happens with families. But I honestly think, that you filled that space."

My mouth gaped open a bit. "I… I don't think I'd say that…" My voice was quiet.

She shook her head and put her hand on my upper arm. "Raina, sweetheart, listen to me… you've had a positive effect on his life and I know, that it's the same for you. I know this from women's intuition and you'll see that in the future," she chuckled, "but just think about what I told you, alright?"

I nodded and she smiled. She stood up from her bed and made her way to the door out the room, motioning for me to follow her. I did as I was told and we went to the front room. When we got there, Two-Bit was helping Keilah with something, I couldn't really make out what, but it was still the sweetest thing I ever saw. I had heard that other girls said seeing your boyfriend with little kids or helping with younger siblings would make your heart melt and I never knew if it was true until now.

cleared her throat and the two siblings looked up. She put her hands on my shoulders, "I think it's time you should be getting Raina home. It's getting late." He quickly stood up halfway through her sentence and walked with me to the door. "Oh! Keith?" He quickly faced his mother. She smiled, "You have yourself a very lovely girl." He smiled and looked back at me, "I know." He turned to open the door and winked at me. I gave a small smile, waved goodbye, and walked out the door.

"See? I told you it wouldn't be so bad," he smiled and wrapped his arm around me shoulders as we walked.

"You were right, _Keith_," I said in a teasing voice.

"Only you, Keilah and my mom can call me that… just not around the rest, please?"

I chuckled and pecked his lips. "I feel special… and fine."

He smiled in victory.

"You and your sister look just like your mom, ya know… except, you obviously look like a guy version."

"Is that good or bad?"

"Good."

**AHHHHHH I'M ALMOST CAUGHT UP WITH THE WATT PAD VERSION OF THIS! Anyway, is this story any good? I've had feedback on watt pad, plus my two friends who I actually trust in reading my writings both said it was good, I actually got their opinions on certain future things that are gonna happen and they freaked out cause it went along with the times (cause if you ask me, I've read some other fan fics on the outsiders, even dirty dancing- and they weren't really going along with the times and were more modern time stuff going on with the one character added in) anyway, I hope anyone reading this likes it!**

**Oh! By the way- Keilah is pronounced like the name Kayla… yes Keilah is a real name cause I have a friend with that name. I chose it cause I wanted to be one of those corny people where the two siblings had somewhat similar names, even if they don't sound the same.**

**Also, when I mentioned about how she liked **_**Casablanca**_**, all things about the movie are true. I actually love the movie and LOVE Humphrey Bogart, aka: Bogie, which is another thing I wanted to clear up. Bogie was a nickname for actor Humphrey Bogart who died in '57 and was married to Lauren Bacall (who died last year-2014-and was mentioned in the Academy Awards dedication to all the people of the Academy who died). Another reason I know that about his nickname is cause I watched the story behind making **_**The African Queen**_** (Which is amazerful and don't let anyone tell you different) and Katharine Hepburn was in an interview about it and she referenced to him as "Bogie" plus anyone else who talked about him also referenced him as "Bogie"… it was just his nickname**

**But helpful thing to remember- the characters of Rick and Ilsa from **_**Casablanca**_** were literally in love and that Elvis Presley and Priscilla had just gotten engaged around this time… cause you'll see it in the future**

**Wow that was a long author's note.**

**Bye! =^-^=**


	16. Chapter 16

"Look who survived!" Two-Bit called as we walked back into the house and I laughed. "She survived playing Soc for a day, she can survive anything," Soda laughed from the table. Him and Steve were playing cards, which seemed to become more usual. Steve sat up and faced me, "Oh, by the way. Evie told me to tell you that she wanted to see that movie _Casablanca_ so we're gonna go with you guys to see it." "Candy might wanna go too, she likes those type of movies," Soda said. I smiled at the two and nodded.

I looked around the house and saw Ponyboy sitting on the couch with a school textbook. Everyone was there except Darry, and I got confused, considering he was always around. "Where's Darry?"

Soda put his hand down, covering the cards so Steve wouldn't cheat. "You're not gonna believe where Darry is!" He smiled like he was gonna bust out laughing.

"Where's Superman at?" Two-Bit asked.

"You ready for it?" He still had that goofy grin on his face.

I rolled my eyes. "Are you gonna tell us or what?"

He put his hands up in defense. "Ok, ok, ok, calm yourself… Darry, is on a date!"

My eyes widened. Steve nodded to confirm his best friend's answer. Two-Bit gave a shocked expression, "He got himself a broad?"

I glared at him a little since I didn't like the term _broad_. I never did. Maybe cause I was one, but that's not the point. The word just bothered me and it always did and they all knew it. Dallas would use that word when I was around just to piss me off, and trust me- it worked like hell.

He noticed me and put his hands up in defense. The other three held back laughs. "Anyway!... yeah, he did," Soda answered.

"So if he and that girl ever got married, would we call her Super-Woman?" Steve joked.

"Well wouldn't it be Wonder-Woman since she's basically the girl version of Superman?" Two-Bit added.

I rolled my eyes and laughed. "You all have the corniest jokes ever."

Ponyboy got up and walked toward the rest of us. "They wouldn't be them if they didn't," he smiled, proud of his comment. Steve rolled his eyes a bit, Soda laughed at his brother, Two-Bit stuck out his tongue then started to laugh.

Darry came into the house smiling. "So how was it?" Ponyboy asked.

Darry gave a happy sigh as an answer.

"I think Clark Kent found his Lois Lane," Steve teased.

"So what's the girl's name?" Two-Bit asked.

"Marilyn… her mother's a real big fan of Marilyn Monroe she said."

"Where'd ya meet her?" I asked.

"Well… she actually was in my class in high school. We ran into each other in town the other day. I always had a thing for her, and my buddies always said she did too for me, but I never had the guts to go and ask her out."

"I never thought I'd hear a day when my big brother said he didn't have the guts to do something," Soda laughed.

Darry smirked, "There's a lot of things about me you don't know, kiddo." He tried to be serious, but we all busted out laughing at what he had said.

…_the next day…_

I was happy for Darry. He didn't really get the chance to live like a regular twenty year old. He got to finish high school, but he never got to go to college. He had two jobs. He was legally responsible for three people. That was not the life of someone his age, and I think having someone like that girl he described would help him out a lot.

Maybe Steve was right… maybe Clark Kent did find his Lois Lane.

He had invited Marilyn over to the house for dinner, but while the rest of us would be at the drive-in. Candy and Soda decided that they would come along with the rest of us, but not without a warning saying that they might ditch at some point during the movie and meet up back with the rest of us. Steve and Evie then said the same thing.

…_..Friday night…_

"Have fun with Marilyn tonight," Sodapop winked to his older brother. Darry shook his head, laughed and waved goodbye as we all walked out. I was smiling, I knew it. But could you blame me? I was seeing my favorite movie with my boyfriend and my best friends, I had a good reason to be smiling right?

"Rain?" someone said and brought me back to reality. "Why are you in such a daze?" Two-Bit gave a confused look.

I chuckled. "Just thinking."

We all went to concessions and got our snacks for the movie. Thankfully, the line wasn't too long and there were still seats open for people who weren't watching from their cars. We all sat the same way like we did for the last movie. We all hoped that Evie and Steve wouldn't start again. I mean, this movie wasn't a movie that would cause a couple to start making out. Sure, the movie's a romance, but not that much of a romance.

…_two hours later…_

"That was actually really good," Evie said when the credits began to roll.

"Told ya it would be," I smiled.

Soda laughed, "I liked it when that vender tried to sell something to Ilsa and he kept lowering the price cause she knew Rick."

"I think it was cute what Rick did at the end with the passports," Suzie said.

"I knew you guys would like it," I smiled.

Two-Bit nodded. "And you all thought I wouldn't be able to handle it."

"We stand corrected," Ponyboy admitted.

Two-Bit smiled in victory and I held back a laugh.

We kinda just hung out for a while after the movie ended. They all said they liked the movie. I'd be lying though if I said that I wasn't shocked that Ponyboy liked it- he liked _Gone with the Wind_ for crying out loud. That's more serious than _Casablanca_ as far as I knew, plus it was at least three or four hours long, which is twice as much as _Casablanca_… Suzie liked it as much as Ponyboy. Candy said she liked it too, even Steve, which really surprised me. "He never admits to liking nothin' like this," Evie whispered to me.

We all headed back to the house. "Wait, what if Marilyn is still there with Darry?" Ponyboy asked. We all exchanged looks. "Then we say hi," Soda said, making his girlfriend chuckle. I just shrugged and we continued toward the house. "What if he gets mad that we'd be interrupting his date?" Candy asked.

He shrugged. "He's been pretty laid back, lately. Happier too."

"Probably cause of Marilyn," Steve said with a smirk.

Two-Bit hit him in the back of the head. "There're kids here!" he scolded as Steve glared at him and rubbed the back of his head.

Ponyboy and Suzie gave annoyed looks, knowing it was them he was referring to .

"I'd like to _not _think that about my big brother, thank you," Soda said to his best friend, obviously grossed out by what he had suggested.

We got inside and saw Darry washing dishes. "Marilyn here?" Ponyboy asked. Darry shook his head and smirked a bit, "Y'all really wanna meet her, don't you?" We all nodded. "Well, lucky for you, she wants to meet you all too," he said looking back to the dishes, "She's coming over for dinner next weekend."

"Looks like we're gonna meet Lois Lane," Steve teased.

Darry shook his head. "No Superman jokes unless you're talking about the show from about ten years ago or the comic."

Sodapop groaned, "But that's no fun!"

Darry rolled his eyes and looked to Evie, Candy and Suzie. "If your parents are ok with it, could you three come too? I know you'll be able to tame these boys better than I will when she comes." It was obvious he was trying to tease them, while asking a serious question at the same time.

"What about Rain?" Candy asked.

"She'd be here even if she wasn't with Two-Bit," he teased again, "She lives here, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Evie realized and I chuckled at her revelation.

"Will there be enough room for all of us?" Ponyboy asked.

Darry shrugged. "We all fit right now, it'll probably be a little cramped, but I think we'll be fine."

"Gonna be an interesting night next week," Steve said.

**Ok, I said this in the author's note on watt pad… I gave the rest of them a relationship, and I felt really bad about Darry being all alone like that, I mean I already feel bad for the character in the original book and movie cause like I had Rain explain, he didn't get to live like a regular person his age and then I felt bad that I gave the rest of them good relationships, I explained that to my two friends who i talk to about this story and ask them for their opinion on things and they said that was fair and was ok so there ya go, and out of all my friends, I trust them the most, the fact I told them my phone and my ipod passcodes**

**By the way, expect to see a crossover type thing going on in the next chapter or the one after that, then another one later on but a small one and not too big cause one of the people in that movie was in the outsiders movie so I couldn't really do much with it but the movie took place around the same time so, then the other crossover I'm gonna include- the movie took place in the late 50s, but my two friends said it worked out real good, plus someone commented on the watt pad version of this that they loved how I included that since they were Greasers in that movie so, yeah… expect that! **

**Bye! =^-^=**


	17. Chapter 17

I changed into my best pair of blue jeans, a button up shirt that was dark blue at the top and faded into white with the sleeves rolled up to my elbows and a tie at the front on the bottom, working boots, and my leather cuff bracelet. I was dressing somewhat nice, like I said, I liked making good first impressions.

Suzie, Candy and Evie all were able to come. Evie's parents had met Darry before and trusted him. Candy's parents were ok with it since me and Sodapop would be at the house. Suzie's parents were a little harder to convince. They asked to meet up with Darry so they could make sure he was trustworthy. Her parents were a little over-protective over her since she was the youngest of four, so I guess it was understandable in her case. But after they met up with him, they must've said he was ok considering she was coming.

I sat on the front steps with Sodapop and Ponyboy waiting for Steve and Evie, Candy, Suzie and Two-Bit. Dary went to get Marilyn while the others all said they would walk to the house together. The four came walking up and the three of us stood up. We all were dressed "proper" I guess you could call it. We were all dressed basically the same as we always did, just neater. We couldn't dress too different since she might be coming around more after this and we didn't want her to get used to us being the way weren't. I mean, Darry never actually said if she was from the Soc side of town or the Greaser side of town, so we basically just took a shot in the dark and that's how we decided to dress.

I went over to Two-Bit who was dressed in his usual jeans, Mickey Mouse shirt with cut sleeves, leather jacket and boots. This shirt was blue, I didn't know how many he had, I just knew I'd never seen him really with a different design on a shirt. He kissed me and smiled when he pulled back, "Good evening, Miss Johnson."

I chuckled at him and smiled, "Good evening, Mr Mathews."

"Get a room, you two!" Sodapop teased.

"You shouldn't be talkin' there, pal," Two-Bit teased and Candy's cheeks got pink as she bit back a smile.

"So when's Superman and Lois Lane getting' back?" Steve asked as we all went inside.

Evie rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. "He said none of that tonight, remember?"

He shrugged at her. "Then I'll get it outta my system now."

"What side of town is she from?" Ponyboy asked.

We all exchanged looks. "Darry never said," I shrugged.

"Even if she is a Soc, she couldn't be that bad if she's with Darry. Right?" Suzie gave a hopeful look.

Two-Bit shrugged, "We can only wait and find out."

Darry came back with Marilyn about ten minutes after we all got there. I'd be lying if I didn't think she was beautiful. She had red hair the same color as Lucille Ball except it was straight and ended at her shoulders, hazel eyes, and was a little shorter than Darry. She was wearing a white skirt, red pullover with sleeves ending at her elbows, white flats, red shoulder bag and red string bracelet… well, I'll give her points for her appearance.

"Everyone, this is Marilyn," Darry said and put his hands on her shoulders. She smiled and said a quiet "hello" as he introduced us one by one. You couldn't really tell unless you were a girl, but she looked nervous and uneasy about being in the room with everyone, especially the younger guys. Evie, Candy, Suzie and me decided to take her outside to the front porch. Kinda to ease her obvious nerves that we ofur could see, but that the guys couldn't. As soon as we sat down, she obviously eased up. "So you from around here?" Evie asked as we sat down.

Marilyn shook her head. "I've only been here about four years."

"Where'd ya live before here?" I asked.

"California… I went to this high school called Rydell High, my family moved here when I was sixteen. I have a cousin Sandy there too."

We all thought of Soda's old Sandy. "We know a Sandy. Is your cousin a blonde?" Suzie asked.

Marilyn nodded. "Yeah, she's a blonde. She graduated from that school in '59 and moved there from Australia in with me and my parents. Is that the Sandy you know?"

We all relaxed. "We know a different Sandy, she moved to Florida with her grandmother a little while back. She used to date one of Darry's brothers," Evie explained.

I looked at Candy, who looked uncomfortable talking about Soda's Sandy. "So, how'd you and Darry meet?" I asked Marilyn to try to change the subject. Candy gave me a small smile and I nodded at her.

"Well, we had the same classes in sophomore year at school cause of our last names. Plus, he played football and I was a cheerleader so we saw each other a lot. We talked sometimes, but not a whole lot. I actually had a crush on him all throughout junior and senior year," she chuckled and her cheeks got pink, "But after graduation, it was hard to keep in contact. Then I heard about him and his brothers with their parents, then his youngest brother and that boy so I didn't make any effort to contact him cause I figured he already had enough to handle. I went back to California for college and then I came back here, and I ran into him the other day, and here we are."

"Are you and him a thing?" Candy smiled.

She bit back a smile. "I think so."

The guys all called us back into the house not long after. Darry looked just as nervous as Marilyn did before we took her outside. Maybe the guys all talked with him to calm him a bit? I don't know. But knowing those guys, they probably didn't. Sure, Two-Bit once talked with Ponyboy and Johnny, we all knew it, but that was like, the only "girl advice" those guys ever really had. Any of 'em. Plus those two were the youngest other than me- but I wasn't a guy. Any girl advice those guys wanted, they always came to me.

While we were eating, poor Marilyn was bombarded with questions. Mostly by Sodapop and Ponyboy. "We heard about Rydell High. Your cousin was there the year that dance was on that bandstand show, right?" Two-Bit asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, her fiancé, Danny Zuko, won that year. But with someone else cause there was this whole big thing, but they're fine."

All the boys except Darry sat there with awestruck faces, mostly Soda and Steve. "Wait, wait, wait… your cousins' fiancé is _Danny Zuko_?" Steve asked.

Marilyn nodded and chuckled a bit at his excitement. "Yeah, why?"

"We heard about that drag race he was in at that place! Thunder Road I think you all call it? Someone we know from work was there in California and watched from a distance and told us about it," Sodapop smiled.

Evie, Candy, Suzie and me all exchanged looks. Marilyn chuckled again at the excitement shown by the two best friends. Darry gave a nervous chuckle. Two-Bit and Ponyboy looked at the two smiling like little kids who had seen something for the first thing and automatically loved it. "Well, him and my cousin are coming down here sometime soon, maybe you two could meet them." Marilyn gave a smile at the two happy teenagers.

Evie and Candy gave each other weird looks. The smiles on the two faces grew at what Marilyn had said. Ponyboy gave a look of slight confusion since he'd never actually been to a drag race, only heard about what actually goes on at them. Two-Bit looked interested, but not nearly as much as the other two. Suzie and I looked at each other and gave a slight chuckle at the scene in front of us.

…_two hours later…_

Dinner with Marilyn went well. She was really nice. Her, EVie, Suzie, Candy and me all planned to have a day without the guys around. I wasn't too keen on the idea on spending the _whole _day without 'em. Don't get me wrong, I liked those girls, but I'd grow up with those guys and still was just more comfortable around them.

Everyone except me and Two-Bit left the house. They'd all gone to walk their girlfriend's home. Two-Bit was helping me clean in the kitchen and dining room. "Marilyn seems nice," I said.

He nodded. "When you all were outside, Darry told the rest of us what part of town she's from. And she ain't no Greaser."

"She's a Soc?"

He shook his head. "Middle class, as what most people call it."

"Well that makes life easier." He nodded and I saw him frowning a bit. He was quiet, and that was odd. Never had I seen him like that other than a few times, and it was when something was bothering him. I walked over to him and gave a concerned look. "What's wrong?"

He looked down. "Ya hear about Curly Shepard?"

"He's still in the reformatory, ain't he?"

He shook his head. "Kid got drafted…"

My eyes widened a bit. "Curly was sent to Vietnam?"

He nodded. "Yeah… Tim told me yesterday when he came over to the garage."

"I thought you and Curly didn't get along too well?"

He chuckled. "Shoot, no one gets along well with the Shepard's. They don't even get along with each other."

I nodded. "That's true… but what're trying to say?"

"He got drafted, Rain… more and more people are getting drafted every day."

I started to panic at what I assumed he was saying. My mouth gaped open and my voice was quiet, "You're not saying you…"

He shook his head quickly. "No, no I didn't… but I'm scared. I mean, it could happen, ya know."

I eased up a bit but was still nervous, and tried to hide it. "You won't..."

"But I'm eighteen, it could happen. I just don't-"

"Can we please not talk about this right now?" My voice was still quiet and I stared at the ground. I could tell he was scared at the whole thing and that it could happen, cause it really could, but he just kinda sprung it on me and I wasn't ready to talk about this sort of thing.

He sighed. "I'm just scared…"

"I know… I am too… but whatever happens, happens… and we'll get through it."

**You can probably see where I'm going with this… my friends who I ask for suggestions and ideas and their thoughts on things said it would be a good thing to have that. I mean, it was my idea, and I was telling them cause I want it to go along right with the times and right around here was when the Vietnam war was taking place and people were really getting drafted. But let me just make this clear, don't nobody come here saying that I'm making fun of war and the military and veterans cause I'M NOT. Most people have no respect for veterans or active soldiers and it makes me sick to my stomach cause these people in the military risked and are risking their lives for millions of people they don't even know and the fact that there are people who don't appreciate that makes me sick. Both my grandfathers were in WWII and Korea, my one grandfather (my dad's dad) was held as a POW (prisoner of war) in WWII and when he was sent back home he weighed 80 pounds, that's not good for an adult, not really anyone, and especially for a man with his height and his health conditions. And there's another man me and my dad see in Passaic named Anthony who is a homeless soldier and we always see him and help him out whatever ways we can and it breaks my heart seeing him there without a home… so NOBODY come and say that I'm disrespecting soldiers and veterans and their families with anything that happens in this story in the future, cause I'm not.**

**Sorry for that little rant, just people who don't respect them just really piss me off… anyway, expect a lot of things that were problems in the late sixties leading into the seventies in this coming up so it goes along with the times as things and people were changing, music was changing, mindsets were changing, just everything was different. There were hippies, mods, the Beatles, drugs, Woodstock in '69, just craziness.**

**Again, wow… long author's note (blame my Italian parents and genetics)**


	18. Chapter 18

…_a few months later, near Christmas…_

Life was pretty much the same. All of us were still together. A few of us had birthdays. I turned 17, Sodapop turned 18, Evie turned 18, and Candy turned 17.

Two-Bit had brought up the possibility of being drafted to Vietnam a few other times, each time making me more and more nervous. I tried to hide whatever worry I had so he wouldn't get any more worried than he already was. He told me he hadn't even told his mom yet about how worried he was, which kinda made me feel bad at first, but then he reminded me that he helped with Keilah and he didn't wanna worry her either, considering their father was still missing in action, and probably would still be even after the war was over.

Evie and Candy started to get somewhat tense. More and more boys who were eighteen were getting those horrible letters, and more and more girls and families were getting letters of their own saying that their soldier wouldn't be returning for whatever happened to them. And the fact that both Steve and Sodapop were eighteen now, well that didn't help our situations at all.

Plus we all wanted to be together for Christmas, especially since this was the first year without Mr and Mrs Curtis, Dallas and Johnny. The Curtis' always made special breakfast for everybody on Christmas since the rest of us didn't come from the best homes, and that knew that well and good so they always invited us over. Johnny would always watch _Miracle on 34__th__ Street_ and would be so mesmerized by the city, but then Dallas would always tell him it wasn't really like that, and the rest of us would always tell Dallas to shut up and just enjoy the movie- which he never could, probably cause he thought Natalie Wood was annoying as the little girl. And we all know how much Dallas Winston _loved _little kids… note the sarcasm.

Marilyn, Evie, Candy, Suzie and me all had gone out to look for Christmas gifts. I didn't know what the other four planned, but I already knew what I was getting Two-Bit.

He never got his fancy show-off switchblade back that night. The cops wanted it for evidence or something and said they'd give it back, but no shocker, they never did. Probably, even considering the circumstances, they thought, _oh, they're still Greasers, better not give it back, you don't know what they'll do_. Anyway, he never got a new one to show off like he did with that one, I would take advantage of that. I planned on getting him a new show-off one. Obviously not the same exact one, I doubt they even sold the same exact one anymore.

The other four looked completely confused what to get the rest as gifts, especially since we had gone to nearly every store in town and with everyone we left, they looked more anxious. I was just waiting till we got to the hardware store, and I was starting think of just going there and meeting back with them, especially since it was getting cold. "Why aren't you looking, Rain?" Evie asked as we walked.

I shrugged a bit. "Two reasons. One: I don't think Christmas is all about gifts and such, but about being with those you care about. Two: I already know what I'm getting him."

Marilyn smiled. "My parents used to say the first thing you said, so we would always make people gifts instead of buying and going crazy."

We all went back to the house at 4:30 in the afternoon. It was kinda weird getting back and nobody was there and from what we could see, they left no trace of anything saying where they were. "They left a note!" Candy called to the rest of us as we looked, and she was looking down reading a paper:

"_If we're not back when you five get back, meet us at the hospital. Sodapop will be waiting in the waiting room for you all. -Darry Curtis"_

"Get in my car," Marilyn said and we ran back outside to her car.

The car ride was quiet. There was nothing any of us could think of to say to ease our nerves. Candy didn't have much to worry about, considering Sodapop would be waiting for us. Marilyn, maybe not, considering Darry wrote the note. Me, Suzie and Evie on the other hand- we were shaking as much as someone outside with no jacket of any type. We had no confirmation of any type that said Two-Bit, Steve or Ponyboy was ok. Something was wrong with one of 'em, and the worry was eating us all alive.

We got there and ran inside to the ER. Just as Darry said, Sodapop was sitting in one of the chairs in the waiting room. He sat hunched over with his elbows on his knees, one leg bouncing nervously on the ball of his foot, and one hand to his mouth as he chewed on his nails.

The five of us quickly went over to him, Candy reaching him first. She practically knocked him over when she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and buried her head in his neck, but he didn't look like he minded, considering he returned the action. "What happened? Where are they?" Marilyn asked.

Candy let go but still had her arms tightly around his torso and his arm around her shoulders tight as he led us through the halls. "Ok, Steve and me were at the DX and Ponyboy and Two-Bit came by cause Two-Bit was on break. So this red mustang comes drivin' up and nearly hits Ponyboy…"

I saw Suzie tense up.

"Steve pushed him out the way and he got hit…"

Suzie eased up a bit, but now Evie was tense and looked like she was about to break out in tears. I put my hand on her arm to try and calm her nerves. She took a deep sigh to try and compose herself and smiled a tiny bit at me.

"He's fine though. Some cuts and bruises, nothing serious... after that, I was helping him get inside cause we had no idea if he was ok or not cause when it happened he couldn't get up. That red car then came around again and tried to hit my brother again but Two-Bit pushed him inside before they got him. Car nearly hit 'em both. Then him and me tried to get the guys in the car but they knocked us both down. Threw some empty glass bottles out at us too. By the time we got up, car was gone," he finished and we got to the room.

Steve sat on the edge of the hospital bed clutching his left arm with his right hand and some sort of gauze bandage by his left eye. Ponyboy sat in one of the chairs staring at the ground and his face was pale. Two-Bit sat in another chair, bouncing his leg and inspecting the bandage that wrapped around most of his palm and back of his hand that ended a little underneath his wrist, Darry wasn't in the room and Marilyn had gone out to look for him since he was probably talking with a nurse or doctor about what had happened and what caused everything. We all had reunions like Candy and Sodapop when we got to the room, which was expected considering how scared we were by the note.

"Sodapop told us what happened… are you ok?" I asked Two-Bit, taking the seat next to him.

He nodded and motioned to his hand. "Got cuts on my hand from the glass bottles they threw but that's it. When I was getting up, one had crushed over by me and I must've leaned on it when I was getting up off the ground. Doctor said he got whatever glass was there out. Other than that, I'm alright."

"It was from the guys that night, wasn't it?" He sighed a bit and nodded. I sighed and leaned my head on his shoulder, "And here I thought we were done with those guys."

I glanced over at Ponyboy and Suzie. He was shaking as much as we had been in the car ride there. Suzie was trying to calm him down, but it didn't look like it was helping much. Could ya blame the kid, though? Someone had tried to hit him with a car. And the worst part, is that we all knew it was intentional and not just some accident or coincidence.

We all left a little while after. Sodapop was fine. Two-Bit was fine with the exception of his hand. Ponyboy was fine with the exception of his nerves. Darry wasn't even there when it happened, they called from the DX and he picked them all up there then drove them to the hospital, expect he was real worried about Ponyboy and how he was doing. Steve had a gash on his left arm from when he fell, plus a little cut by his eye, and he said his ankle was bothering him from when the car had hit him but he had no limp, and the doctor said he was gonna be fine… so in summary, no one was physically hurt _too_ bad, but on the inside with our thoughts, we were all a wreck.

All the guys got into Darry's truck to drive back to the house, all the girls in Marilyn's car. "That was nervewracking," Marilyn sighed as she started the car, "I hope we never have to deal with anything like that again." We all nodded in agreement with what she said.

I started to think about the first time Two-Bit talked about the possibility of getting drafted. I had nearly jumped outta my skin when Soda said the car had nearly hit him, even when he said he was fine. I mean, if he ever told me he got a letter of being drafted, how would I react to _that_? It was hard just thinking about everything we had just encountered, could we handle something like that? Could he? Could I?

I was brought out of my thoughts when someone nudged my arm. I quickly looked to the side and saw they were all getting out of the car to get into the house. I got out of Marilyn's car and waited for the rest. "You ok, Rain? You were just staring into space on the way back," Candy said with a worried look. I nodded and gave a weak smile, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking." She gave me an unsure look as we all headed toward the house.

"Rain… can we talk to you for a sec?" Marilyn stopped me before we walked in. Behind her stood Candy, Suzie and Evie.

I nodded a little and we sat down on the porch. "What's going on?" I asked.

"We should be asking you that." Evie's voice was kinda harsh but kinda sad at the same time.

I gave an unsure look. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, Evie just doesn't know how to be subtle." She glared at Evie a bit then back to me. "What she meant, is something bothering you?"

"Like what?"

"You've been acting weird since you told us Two-Bit mentioned the possibility of getting drafted." Suzie gave a weird look at me.

I sighed and leaned my head against the post. "Honestly… I'm scared to death. I mean, what if he does? I can't handle that, I mean just with how worried I was today."

"Have you talked to him anymore about it?" Marilyn asked.

I shook my head. "I don't want him more worried than he already is."

"This is something you two need to talk about, though. It's not helping either of you. I know you don't wanna talk about it, but you have to. Let's just say- God forbid- that he did. You two both have feelings about this, holding them in will not make things easier. And it's not gonna help your relationship. Now I'm not saying your relationship isn't good, and just saying that it's not gonna help keep you relationship the way it is, or even making it better. And if he does, he needs to know that you know and believe will all your heart that he's gonna be perfectly fine."

"I agree with Marilyn, just talk to him about it." Evie gave a concerned look. "There's no harm in just talking about it."

"Look, Rain, I understand where you're coming from. My big brother got drafted," Suzie said.

We all gave sad looks. "How did your family react?"

She gave a slight chuckle. "Well obviously we're scared, but we all talked about it and we're better than we were. My mom's still more on edge than the rest of us, but that's expected. He leaves January 3."

"Are you nervous?" Candy asked.

Suzie nodded. "Sure… but we know he's gonna be ok and believe it or not," she glanced at me, "talking about it with the person does help. Cause you get out your feelings and they get out theirs."

I sighed in defeat. "Fine, I'll do it. I try talking with him about it soon…"


	19. Chapter 19

A week before Christmans and I still hadn't talked to Two-Bit like I said I would. Marilyn, Candy, Suzie and Evie kept asking me if I had yet or not. Then when I said I hadn't, I got a nice little lecture about it from the four.

Ponyboy had kinda calmed down after the whole car thing. He was still kinda jumpy whenever there was a shiny, red car around or when he went to the DX, but someone was always with him. Plus, the Shepards and us were all getting along at the moment and were on good terms, so if they saw anything going on with us and they were in the area, we had them to help out, too. And I will admit to this, they were good figthers, most of the time, at least.

Two-Bit, me and Ponyboy had been let out for Christmas break. Two-Bit still had work at the garage, Steve and Soda at the DX, Darry was at work. Evie and Candy both had jobs at the Dingo as waitresses. Marilyn worked at the library. Suzie had gone to Tennesee to visit her family. Long story short- me and Ponyboy sat at the house bored out of our minds and no one else was around.

I had applied for a job at the Dingo with Evie and Candy, but the manager said she could tell me _after_ the new year started. I wasn't too fond of working there, but I need a job. The reasons I didn't prefer to work there though was, one: Socs went there sometimes and I didn't wanna deal with those guys. Two: the uniforms were degrading and would show about how my chest and if I bent down, my behind too.

"I know it's cold, but can we please go out and do something?" I asked hopefully.

He rolled his eyes and chuckled a bit, "Fine we can go out." I clapped my hands a bit and grinned like a little girl who had just got a new doll. Ponyboy laughed, "Sometimes I wonder which of us is the seventeen year old here and which is the fourteen year old." I stuck my tongue out at him but ended up unable to hold in my laughter at his true comment.

We both put on a jacket and left the house. I wasn't kidding when I said it was cold. The only thing we could do with the holiday coming in a week was go to the Dingo or to the new record store that had opened in town. "Ponyboy, can I ask you something?" I asked him as we got into the Dingo.

We walked over to one of the booths. He nodded as we sat down at both sides. "Sure, what's going on?"

I bit my lip. "Are you nervous about the war?"

He shrugged a little. "Kinda. I mean, not too much, I guess. Why?"

I sighed, "I'm scared to death."

"Why?"

"Cause anybody could get drafted in the blink of an eye."

He nodded slowly. "Oh… Suzie was telling me that you were nervous that he could get drafted."

"What's she told you?"

"Well, that both of you are nervous about the whole thing. But even if he does, you won't be alone here. We'll all be with you."

"I know, but. It's just that… this kind of thing always happens…"

He gave a confused look. "What happens?"

"Everything or everyone I live gets taken away from me, one way or another. They're just ripped right out from under me like a sheet."

"Ok, first of all, stop talking like that. Second of all, you're talking like it did and already happened."

I sighed again. "I know, I'm sorry… I just always think the worst scenario possible, you know I do that when I'm worried."

He nodded. "Yeah, and I've been trying to break that since I've known you," he chuckled, "look, I think you're worrying more than you need to. And whatever happens to whoever, the rest of us will be around to help get through it."

After we left the Dingo, we went to the new record store. It was this one that opened up about a month ago. Lots of those stores were opening up all over, I heard. The music was starting to change. More bands were coming out, singing groups, styles, everything was changing. I get that the New Year was starting, but the people were changing too. Their mindsets, thinking, I saw clothes style changing a bit too.

When we got inside, my eyes widened a bit. I had never seen so many records in one place at one time ever before in my life, and I went to a lot of record stores. I looked at Ponyboy who, from the look on his face, was thinking the same thing as me.

There were records from the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, the Monkees, Pink Floyd, the Who, a whole bunch of other bands. But from the selection, it seemed like this place catered to the Soc music preference. A record that really stuck out to me was this group form the East Coast, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It was an album released specifically for the season, _The 4 Seasons' Christmas Album_ was the title. I looked behind and saw about ten more of their albums.

The four on the cover wore suits most of the time, which wasn't different from the Beatles. The one guy who was in front of the other three, who I'm guessing was Frankie Valli, kinda had puffy hair almost like an afro. I nudged Ponyboy on the arm and motioned to the group. I held up one of the records in front of him. "Ever hear of these guys?" I asked. He inspected the group and shook his head, "Never heard of them."

"Can I help you two with something?" a voice said behind us.

The two of us jumped a bit and turned around. "What?" I asked.

"Do you two need any help finding anything?" the worker asked again, seeming a little more annoyed but trying to hide it.

I looked up at him and automatically recognized him as Andrew, one of the guys from the day and that night out. He was a junior. I, thankfully, wore my hair out. I shook in front of my face, shook my head and looked down at my feet. "We're just looking," Ponyboy answered. Andrew nodded and walked off.

The two of us quickly left the store after that. We didn't wanna be recognized. It seemed like he didn't, but we didn't wanna risk anything. "I think we should head back to the house," he said, "It's getting pretty cold out." He was shaking a bit and I could tell it wasn't entirely from the cold. I nodded and pretended not to notice as we walked back to the house.

When we got to the house it was 5:03pm. Darry, Steve, Sodapop, and Two-Bit usually got back at about 5:30pm. Evie and Candy said their shifts ended at about five, but they would always go home to change first out of their uniforms. Marilyn would get off at 5:30, that's what she said at least. "I was actually thinking of applying at that record store since they had a help wanted sign in the window. But I don't know anymore," I said.

"What's stoppin' you?" he asked.

"We walked in," I chuckled.

Yeah sure, like I said, I applied to the Dingo, but I really didn't wanna wear those uniforms. They were too tight, showed nearly half of anything a girl with some self-respect didn't wanna show. Did I wanna work somewhere that guys would stare at me with wide eyes and smiles, and not in a good way? Hell. No. Evie and Candy hated the uniforms, but needed jobs. And Steve and Soda weren't fond of them two working there either with those uniforms and since they knew how most guys thought.

Everybody got back around 5:30pm like usual. Evie and Candy dragged me to my room, closing the door behind us. "Have you talked to him yet?" Candy asked.

I sighed and shook my head.

Evie gave an annoyed sigh. "That's it… you're gonna talk to him about it, and you're gonna talk to him about it _right now_. Cause if you don't soon, we'll all be in the 90s before you do! The four of us are worried out of our minds about you and have been since the first time you mentioned it! I know you don't want to talk about it, but you know what, you have to."

I sighed in defeat, knowing she was right about everything she said. "Fine," I mumbled. The two nodded and we went to the living room. "Two-Bit… Rain needs to talk about something very important with you," Candy said. He nodded and the two of us went to the front porch and sat down. "What's going on?" he asked cautiously.

I bit my lip. "Um… ok… we need to talk about, the possibility of you getting drafted."

"Oh…"

"Evie, Candy, Suzie and Marilyn have been telling me to for weeks now."

He chuckled. "Steve, Soda, Pony and Darry… well mostly Darry and Pony… but they've been saying that too."

I couldn't help but laugh. "you have no idea how much that makes me feel better."

He laughed, "Just imagine how I felt when you said that too."

We finally calmed down and I looked at the ground. "They're all right, ya know." My voice was quiet.

He nodded. "Unfortunately, yeah."

I looked up at him. "Even if you do, there's nothing we can do about it. Cause if you get one of those letters and you don't show up there, you could get into a lot of trouble. And I know, neither of us want that."

He nodded and looked at the ground. "I know."

I sighed a bit. "How scared are you?..."

He looked up at me and his face showed hurt, more than bearable and that he was about to breakdown. "Terrified…" He stood up and started to pace a bit. "I mean, what if something happens to me? Then what're my mom and Keilah supposed to do? I've been helping with her ever since I was ten, that eight years, Rain! Ever since that son of a bitch I used to call dad walked out on his wife, ten-year-old son, and two-year-old daughter! I'm the closest thing that Keilah has to some sort of father figure and I've always been around to help my mom. If something happens to me, what's gonna happen to them? Huh? I mean, I just…"

He sat back down hard on the steps, leaned his elbows on his knees and looked at the ground. I put my hand on his back and rubbed it in a circle on it. I leaned my head on his shoulder on my other hand was on his leg as I tried to calm him down. He leaned his head on mine and put one hand on top of mine as he sighed. "I'm just scared what could happen…" he choked out.

I sighed a bit. "You're talking like how Ponyboy said I was before."

"How's that?"

"Like you already got drafted."

He looked up at me with a sad look.

**I'm a bad person for making that happen, aren't i… wait, you don't even know **_**exactly**_ **what yet… then in that case- CLIFFHANGER!**


	20. Chapter 20

My eyes widened. "You're… you're kidding me, right? Please say you're kidding me."

He slowly shook his head, "I leave January 3…"

"When did you get the letter?"

"A week ago." He took the folded up envelope in his pocket out and handed it to me.

I took the envelope and red through it, trying to hold back tears, yet I had a strong feeling I was failing miserably. "Have you told anyone else about it?"

He shook his head, "Thankfully, I got to the mailbox before my mom or Keilah that day."

I felt like my heart shattered in a million pieces and that I was going to have some sort of emotional breakdown right then and there. I tried to remember anything Marilyn had said about this, Suzie too, but nothing came to mind. "I don't want you to go," I whispered.

"You think I do?" he chuckled. Only he could make a comment like that to lighten up the mood somewhat, yet I was happy he did. He sighed, "I don't know how I should tell the rest."

"Well, I could tell Evie, Candy, Suzie and Marilyn if you want me to."

He nodded, "Ok… Rain?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you alright?"

He looked more worried than I'd ever seen him before. I felt the tears I was holding back start for what felt like forever start to roll down my cheeks and I felt weak and small. "No…" I choked out and buried my head in my hands. He quickly pulled me against him. I buried my head into his shoulder and parts of his shirt were balled into my fists. I know I wasn't being very encouraging at the moment for his sake, but I couldn't help it. I mean, just like I knew would eventually happen, someone I love was being ripped away from me. I prayed he'd be ok, but if he got hurt, everything would change. I could feel it.

I pulled away from him a bit. "You're gonna be fine, alright? I know, that when you come back, you'll be exactly how you were before… except maybe in a uniform and maybe different hair," I chuckled and wiped my cheeks and eyes with my shirt sleeve. He gave a small smile and kissed my forehead.

We went back inside and everyone was sitting and talking. "You two alright?" Darry asked and we both nodded. "Darry, can I talk to you about somethin', real quick?" Two-Bit asked him. He nodded and the two went outside. Candy and Evie dragged me back into my room. I knew what they were gonna ask. When we got to the room, Evie was about to shut the door but Marilyn came in as well- I saw her walk into the house- and she closed it. "So you two talked about it?" Candy asked.

I sighed and nodded, "Yup… everything came out."

"Did it help you two at all?"

I felt tears in my eyes again. "I don't think so."

Marilyn gave me a confused look. "Why? What happened?"

"He…" My voice was quiet and shaking a bit.

Evie sat up, "Don't tell me that boy broke up with you, casue if he did-"

"No!" I yelled and stopped her, then sighed to compose myself. "He didn't break up with me, Evie."

"Then what happened?"

I still had the letter. It was folded up in my pocket. I slowly took it out, unfolded it, and placed it in front of the three. They looked at it cautiously at the letter that had a return address that the name said _Selective Service System_. I could tell by the look on their faces, they knew what it meant and what he had said to me outside on the porch.

"Rain, I'm… I'm so sorry," Marilyn said in a quiet voice and put her hand on my shoulder.

"Does anyone else know?" Candy asked.

I shook my head, "Unless that's what he wanted to talk to Darry about, no. Just us two and you three."

"When does he leave?"

"January 3, same day as Suzie's brother."

"You gonna be ok?" Evie asked, placing her hand on my arm.

I sighed a bit and nodded. "Yeah, I think so… but I may ask to stay over with one you sometimes while he's away."

They all nodded as if they were all planning on that anyway.

The four of us went back to the living room. The rest were all talking and at the moment, laughing. Darry was in the kitchen- not a shocker. But just because he was in the room, didn't mean he didn't listen in on the conversations going on.

I went over to him in the kitchen. I stood next to him by the counter and gave a small smile when he glanced over at me. He copied my action and went back to looking at the book in front of him. I glanced at it as well. "I know what you're gonna ask," he said, looking at me from the corner of his eye.

I gave a nervous laugh. "Then would you anser it? Kill my suspense?"

He chuckled and nodded. "He asked me if I could help him tell the rest, and if I could check on his mother and his sister while he's gone. Make sure they're ok, help them out if they need anything, that kind of stuff."

…_the next night…_

As far as I knew, Two-Bit still hadn't told any of the guys other than Darry about the draft. I had called Suzie to tell her. She told me her brother's name who was leaving the same day, maybe they'd be in the same unit. Her and her family were coming back from Tennessee January 1, probably in the evening or by midnight they'd be back, at least that's what she said.

There was one good thing about his departure date: it was after the New Year started. We all wanted to be here, though Suzie was an exception considering she was with family. But other than that, we'd all be together like we wanted to be. We all did that anyway every year, filed in to the Curtis' house, but this year, like I had previously explained, it would be different this year- so we really wanted to be together, trying to ignore the sudden change this year. And it was the same for New Year's Eve.

We all sat around the house, just doing whatever we thought of doing. It was snowing a bit, and we didn't wanna get stuck in snow. Mostly what we were doing, involved: card playing, making fun of the Beatles or whatever other bands we hated, talking about shows, etc.

Two-Bit wasn't there. I suggested that he tell his mom and sister. I felt kinda bad that he told me first out of anybody. I get his concern with telling them, but I still think that he should've told them first, then me. I asked him if he wanted me to go with him, but he said no, but said he would call the house if I should come over.

The door opened and he came walking in, flurries from the snow following behind him through the doorway. Everyone said their hello's and he came to sit next to me. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and I turned to kiss him. "How'd they take it?" I whispered when I pulled back.

"Not too bad, I think… but my mom said she was gonna call here soon cause she wanted to see you, I think," he answered.

About five minutes later, just like he said, the phone rang. Darry picked it up and all throughout the call, he shot glances at the two of us. "That was your mom, Two-Bit, she wants to see Rain," he said and put the phone down. The two of us got up and left the house, unfortunately though, not remembering how cold it was.

We got to his house and took off our jackets. When we got inside, Keilah was sitting at the dining room table, what it looked like, doing homework. She looked up and smiled when she saw us. "Mom! Keith and Raina are here!" she called into another room. I rubbed my hands together to warm them up while we waited for her to come into the room. She smiled when she saw us. "Hi, Raina! How are you, sweetheart?" she smiled and greeted me with a hug.

I copied her actions. "I'm fine, how are you?"

"I'm ok… can I talk to you about something?" She gestured to her bedroom, like she always did when she wanted to talk.

I nodded. "Of course."

We both started toward her room, when she quickly turned around, "Keith! Watch Keilah while I talk to Raina!" She turned back around and I followed her into her room as she closed the door. She sat on the edge of her bed, gave a small smile and patted the spot next to her. I sat where she patted her hand, like she gestured. She gave another smile, yet this one was more comforting, "Are you doing alright?"

I know what she was talking about. "Yeah," I hesitated, "Are you?"

She shrugged, "I'm ok, I guess. Am I worried? Of course I am, he's my son. I'm just worried about Keilah. I don't think she fully understands the severity of the war going on, but honestly, I kind of prefer it that way. I don't want her to get scared."

I nodded. "I understand."

"But there is another thing bothering me?" I gave a confused look. "You're not telling me the whole truth, Raina."

"I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean."

"How did you react when he showed you the letter?"

I gave a heavy sigh, "Worried… scared…" She nodded and waited for me to continue. "I just don't wanna lose him. I mean, I haven't been so worried about anyone since two of our friends ran off a few months back. No one knows what'll happen there, and like I said, I just don't wanna lose him." I looked down at my hands.

"You love him, don't you?" I quickly looked up and my mouth gaped open. "Don't tell me I'm wrong," she chuckled, "I can tell you love him. And lucky for you, I can tell he loves you too."

"How do you know?"

She thought for a moment. "Let me put it this way… that boy looks at you the way Elvis looks at Priscilla, or how Rick looked at Ilsa."

I couldn't help but laugh at her analogies. The fact that she used Elvis Presley and Priscilla, who recently got engaged and obviously madly in love. And then Rick and Ilsa from _Casablanca_, how madly in love they were and just-

I just proved her point, didn't I?

"Look, anyway, if you ever need anything while he's away- and I mean _anything_\- my door is always open. Alright?" she smiled.

I smiled back and nodded. "Thank you, Mrs. Mathews."

She got up and left the room and I followed. Two-Bit and Keilah were sitting at the dining room table looking down at a paper. "…and that's how you draw Mickey Mouse!" he smiled at his younger sister, who admired the drawing. I bit back a laugh, but Mrs. Mathews didn't hesitate to laugh at the scene in front of her. _This is one thing I'm gonna miss for a while._ I thought, thinking about what other scenes I had seen with the two siblings and him acting like a little kid or helping, just for Keilah.

The two turned and two-Bit got up and stood next to me. He took my hand and wedged his fingers between mine, lacing them together. I bit back a smile, knew my cheeks were pink, and leaned against his arm as I used my free hand to wave goodbye to the mother and daughter as we walked out the door back to the house.


	21. Chapter 21

**Quick thing- the brown leather jacket that is mentioned by "Rain", looks like the one that Matt Dillon uses and gives to Ponyboy in the movie. I chose that one not cause of that, but cause I actually own the same exact jacket that Matt Dillon uses that my dad bought about thirty years ago in the early 80s and my dad said it was the same exact one and it's actually really warm… you'll see why I pointed that out once you read on :)**

"Merry Christmas everybody!" Steve yelled as he walked through the front door, Evie following in behind him with his hand around hers and they both were smiling. He usually wasn't so cheery, on account of his _lovely_ father- note the sarcasm- but every year on Christmas, he was happy.

Candy, Marilyn and Two-Bit all followed in as well. We all greeted each other then went to our boyfriend or girlfriend. Everybody their gifts underneath the small Christmas tree in the living room. I had wrapped the blade for Two-Bit in a folded up Mickey Mouse t-shirt. I know he had about a hundred of hose already, but I knew he would like it, plus is would hide the blade.

"Rain… guess what I helped Darry do for Ponyboy," Marilyn whispered and pulled me over to the other room. "I tried to keep it a secret but if I don't tell anyone, I'm gonna explode."

I chuckled at her excitement and nodded, "What'd you help him do for Pony?"

"Ok, ok… so Suzie called me and said she was able to convince her family to come back from Tennessee early cause she wanted to be with us all for part of the day, and she convinced them cause of her brother going away soon. Anyway, I talked with her parents and they agreed to let he come over soon!"

I smiled and opened my mouth to say something but stopped when Ponyboy walked into the room.

I went back into the living room and sat down on the couch, Two-Bit came next to me and held something over my head. I looked up and it was mistletoe. I rolled my eyes and laughed, "You're so corny." He smiled and nodded, "I wouldn't be me if I wasn't." I laughed again. He leaned down and I met him halfway. "No PDA in the living room!" Candy teased… I guess the kiss lasted longer than it felt. I pulled away and knew my cheeks were pink with embarrassment, but in this case, it was totally worth it.

But the fact that it was Candy who said that, she's been spending too much time with Sodapop.

The phone rang and I thought it was Suzie until Darry called me over to the phone. "Hello?" I asked and took the phone.

"_Merry Christmas, Rain!_" I heard in Cherry and Marcia's voice.

I laughed and smiled, knowing they couldn't see me. "Merry Christmas, you two!"

"_We haven't really seen you in a while, we should get together soon before break is over,_" Marcia said.

"Ok! We will get together soon, I promise! I gotta go Again, Merry Christmas you two!"

"_Merry Christmas!_" they said and I hung up. I went back over to Two-Bit on the couch, trying not to block anyone's view of _It's A Wonderful Life _as I walked back. "Who was that?" he asked. "Cherry and Marcia," I answered. He gave a look of confusion but shook it off, making me laugh.

Marilyn, Evie, Candy and Suzie never met Cherry and Marcia. Not as far as I knew, at least. Ever since I started hanging out with the four, I hadn't really seen much of the other two. Probably since I now had other Greasers to hang out with, plus Candy was in my homeroom. I felt bad that I hadn't been with the other two, though, especially since they helped me play Soc-for-a-day. But we still had reputations and such considering the two depictions of the two thought different social classes, that were forbidden to be with each other; one called Greaser, one called Soc.

A few minutes later, the phone rang again. Marilyn picked it up for Darry. While she was on the phone, most likely with Suzie, Darry called me into the other room. "Rain, guess what I did for Marilyn?" he said, smiling like a little kid.

I couldn't help but laugh at his excitement, I hadn't seen him this happy in a long time. "What were you able to do for her?"

"I invited her cousin Sandy and her fiancé over. She was telling me last week how she missed them so I got in contact with them and they're coming over later on!"

He still had that childlike smile on his face and I laughed again. Like I said, I hadn't seen him like this since before Mr. and Mrs. Curtis died. Ever since he started going out with Marilyn, he was happier. He was almost always smiling like this and it warmed my heart to see the two together and as happy as they were.

Marilyn came running into the room, smiling. "Suzie's on her way over right now!" she smiled.

I quickly went back to the other room, back in my spot next to Two-Bit. He gave a questioning look and whispered everything the two had told me. Someone knocked on the door and Darry and Marilyn came running to get the door before anyone else could. They opened the door and Suzie quickly came inside since it was cold and snowing. We al quietly said hello, since Ponyboy was in the other room and we didn't want him to see her quite yet.

"Pony? Come in here would you?" Sodapop called to his younger brother. He held a Polaroid in his hand and Candy had the lacquer for the picture sat on the table.

Suzie stood behind Steve, Darry, Marilyn and Evie. Ponyboy came into the room with a curious look. The four stepped aside, revealing a smiling Suzie. Ponyboy's face lit up as bright as the lights on the small Christmas tree. The next thing we all knew, Suzie's arms were wrapped around Ponyboy's neck as she jumped into his arms, which were tightly wrapped around her torso. There was a bright flash and I knew it was Sodapop and his camera. He took the picture, peeled off the tape, then handed it to Candy so she could paint the lacquer on so the picture wouldn't fade. The youngest of us all turned to face him with glares, while he stood there with a wide grin, proud of his actions.

Throughout the rest of the day, we all took pictures with a 35 millimeter SLR instead. That way,when we got them developed, we could have more than one printed out, plus the negatives. Darry and Marilyn, Steve and Evie, Sodapop and Candy, Ponyboy and Suzie, and Two-Bit and me. Then all the girls in one picture, then all the guys, then one of all of us together in one group photo. We would all take them to get developed on the twenty-seventh, so they would be ready by January second.

…_a few hours later…_

We all agreed to open the gifts at night, kind of a "save the best for last" type of thing. We had already finished eating and now we were watching _A Charlie Brown Christmas_. It had only come out in 1965 and for about a year, but I had a strong feeling it would live on for centuries to come.

There was another knock on the door. Darry quickly got up and went to answer it before Marilyn could get there. Two figures came inside; a woman with blonde hair that ended at her shoulder and bright blue eyes, the other was a man with greased-back jet black hair and a cleft chin. Marilyn came back into the room, "Darry, who was-" She stopped halfway when she saw the two visitors. Again, Sodapop was ready with his Polaroid and Candy with the lacquer. Marilyn ran over to the two, who I guessed was her cousin and her fiancé and Soda snapped the picture and repeated the process to preserving the photo.

Marilyn hugged the blonde girl, then the guy with the cleft chin. Then she turned to us, "Everyone, this is my cousin Sandra Olsson and her fiancé, Danny Zuko."

"Please, just call me Sandy," the blonde smiled and said with a slight Australian accent.

Marilyn introduced us all one by one, addressing Darry last as her boyfriend. "Marilyn, you never told me how handsome he was," Sandy leaned to her cousin and said in a quiet tone, but making sure it was loud enough for everyone to hear. Darry's cheeks showed a slight change color to a bright pink- probably the first and only time it would ever happen- and he smiled and looked down.

A little while later, we decided to open the gifts at 10:15pm. Not everybody got something for everyone, mostly cause none of us could really afford it. But we all knew that if we could, we would.

I went to the tree and got the package with the shirt and the blade, and sat back down on the couch with Two-Bit. He held a small package in his hand. I handed mine to him and he did the same with the one in his hand. "Open yours first," I smiled. He happily obliged to my wish and he began to reveal the shirt with a very familiar design. His face lit up as he saw the folded up Mickey Mouse shirt and I busted out laughing. "Unfold the shirt," I managed to get out in between laughs. He did what I said and the blade tumbled onto his lap. He laid the shirt down and picked up the blade, "What's this?"

I smiled, "A new switchblade… the fuzz never gave you back your old one that was your show off and you never got a new one. Look," I pointed to the small engravement that read _Keith 'Two-Bit' Mathews_ on the handle. He flicked the switch and the blade popped out. "Do you like it?" I asked hopefully.

"This must've cost you a fortune."

I shook my head. "Not really, but you'll never find out how much," I grinned.

He looked up at me smiling, "Thank you, Rain." He quickly kissed me, closed the blade and slid it into his pocket. "Before you open yours, take it with you outside," he said. "But it's so cold out," I said. He quickly got up, ran to my room and came back with my old brown leather jacket. I caved in with a teasing sigh and followed him outside. "Why'd we have to come out here in the cold to open my gift?" I asked.

He pointed to the porch light, "The light is better out here."

I looked at the moon and stars that showed and it was still slightly snowing. "It's so beautiful out here… where's Soda with his camera when you need it?" I laughed.

He laughed. "Come on, open it," he smiled.

I ripped the paper away slowly and there was a little black square box. I gave a confused look, "What is this?"

"Open the box."

I did as he said and opened the little black box, revealing a gold heart on a chain. "It's beautiful," I said quietly and looked up at him smiling.

He smiled back, "It's a locket… look at the picture inside."

I opened the heart and there were two pictures in it, both from my birthday: one that was taken of us actually looking at the camera, the other was taken after the first and Two-Bit had snuck in a kiss. "This must've cost you a fortune."

He shrugged. "I've been saving up for it since those pictures were taken," he laughed. "You said you didn't want me to go, this way- in a way- I'll always be with you."

I looked up at him and smiled. The next thing I knew, my arms were around his neck, his hands cupped my chin and our lips were pressed against each other. It was close to making out, just no tongues and nothing _gross_. Everything seemed perfect…

Until I saw a flash from the corner of my eye.

I pulled back and looked toward the house and there everybody stood behind Soda, who held the SLR in his hands.

I looked at Two-Bit, "Did you plan this?"

Before he could answer, Soda spoke up, "We did this on our own… Merry Christmas you two!" He grinned his usual grin that resembled that of a little kid. Two-Bit and I looked at each other and busted out laughing, and pretty soon everyone was trying to calm down from laughing.

**Aw how cute =^-^= admit it, it was cute… I at least think it was cute- if you thought this chapter was cute, you'll love the next one what happens at midnight on New Years :)**

**You guys should check out my new fan fiction, "Cherry Flavored Soda"… it was a request from BrokenAskeus through direct message or whatever the heck that thing is called, but I just started it today, but yeah, you should check it out :)**


	22. Chapter 22

Everyone was coming over for New Year's Eve around eight. It would give everyone time to spend time with their families before their friends. We were all gonna watch the ball drop in Times Square in New York City on the television. It kinda became a tradition for me to watch it with the guys, but this year, like I've said before- and I don't care if I sound repetitive- it would be different.

Before the "party" started, Mrs. Mathews had asked me to stop by their house. I obviously said yes, and for a couple reasons. One: she was my boyfriend's mom- there's a good reason right there. Two: she was one of the nicest people I had ever met. Three: I had nothing prohibiting me form seeing her. Four: I really did enjoy my visits with her.

This time of year, you could walk around town and not really have to be too nervous. I've noticed over the years, that most Soc families went outta town to warmer places for vacation, so I would always take the opportunity to walk alone. I mean, we all lived pretty deep in the East side, deep enough that no Soc- no matter how desperate to beat on a Greaser- would come this far in. I won't lie, it felt good to walk alone without having to worry about some tuff-looking, expensive car driving up behind you. I'd never successfully had that feeling a day in my life, and I don't think it would happen too many other times either, so I savored the time I was in right now.

I reached the house and knocked on the door. I guess I knocked quicker and louder than I intended, considering Mrs. Mathews rushed to the door. "Raina, come in here before you freeze to death," Mrs. Mathews said, pulling me into the house and closing the door.

I took off my jacket, hung it on the coat rack, and rubbed my hands together a bit to warm them, "You wanted to see me?" She smiled, "More Keilah than me." I chuckled as she led to me to Keilah's room. She was sitting on her bed, reading a book. Mrs. Mathews knocked on the doorway and Keilah looked up and smiled. She waved me over and Mrs. Mathews left the room. "Whatcha readin' there?" I asked and sat on the edge of the bed.

Keilah held up the book that on the cover said _Pride and Prejudice._ "It's for school," she said and rolled her eyes.

"Can I see it?" She nodded and handed it to me. I flipped through the pages a bit. "I had to read this for school when I was your age."

"Did you like it?"

Honestly, I didn't read the book. When it was assigned, I didn't wanna read it so I didn't. I knew it was a major part of my final grade that year, but I was being rebellious or something that year, I don't know, but I didn't do it. It's the major reason that I was held back that year in school. "It's not a book I particularly liked, but I don't even remember anything that happened now," I shrugged. I was _not _going to be a bad example for her, even if it meant telling a lie in this case.

She chuckled and I handed her the book back. "My teacher assigned it before break and she wants it done by the time school starts again," she huffed. She shrugged and set the book down to the side. "Can I ask you something, Raina?"

I held my hand up. "Just call me Rain," I smiled, "And sure, what's your question?"

"Rain… do you love my brother?"

I gave a teasing look. "Did him and your mom tell you to ask me that?"

She laughed and shook her head. "No, just me."

I looked out the window and shrugged a bit. "I don't know… maybe."

"Then why are you two dating?"

"Ohhh… I understand now… ok, people date each other cause they like each other, but like each other more than friends."

"Well if liking someone is why people date, then why do some people say _love_?"

"Well, this is how I see it… when two people love each other, that means they wanna spend the rest of their lives together. That they don't wanna date anyone else ever and those two people wanna stay together. That's why most people get married… but unfortunately, some people don't understand the full concept of that and it can hurt lots of people," I explained and she nodded in understanding.

I sat talking with Keilah till it was 7:30. We talked about what we liked- which included a half hour conversation about Elvis Presley. She showed me the records she had of his, a few pictures she had gotten from magazines and newspapers that her mother let her have. She even planned on trying to write him a letter and asking him for an autographed picture.

I liked Keilah. The first time I came over, we didn't really get a chance to talk. The other couple times I had been over in the last few months, I was either with Two-Bit or their mom. But now that I had actually gotten the chance to talk to her and get to know her, I really liked her and she kinda felt like a little sister in a way.

When I walked out of Keilah's room, Two-Bit was putting on his jacket. He looked a bit shocked when I appeared in the room. "Hey, I didn't know you were here," he smiled and walked over to me, "I was just about to head over to the house for New Year's." I smiled back, "Then we'll walk together."

"So why were you over? My mom ain't home and I wasn't around when you got there," he said. We walked out the house and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

I wrapped my arms around his torso, "Keilah wanted to talk to me."

He gave a confused look. "Keilah?"

"You know, your sister," I teased.

He rolled his eyes and chuckled. "I know who Keilah is… but why'd she wanna talk to you?"

I shrugged. "She felt like it, I guess."

"What'd you two talk about?"

"Girl stuff…"

He rolled his eyes and we got to the house. When we went inside, the only people there were Marilyn and Darry. "Pony went to get Suzie, Soda went to get Candy and Steve and Evie are on their way," Darry said before we could ask where everyone was. "Ok then," I said and nodded.

…_..11:45pm, 15 minutes until January 1, 1967…_

Everyone else got there around ten after eight. The night was filled with us just talking, playing games and watching tv. Now we got ready to ring in the New Year. "This year has been crazy," Sodapop said. We all knew some of the things that he was referring to.

Darry nodded, "Tell me about it."

"But there have been good things along with the crazy," I said, "Hasn't there?" My voice was hopeful and I looked around the room. I heard a few 'yeah's' go around the room. "I think we should name a few, good way to end the year."

"I'll go first," Marilyn said, we all nodded and she sat up, "Well, I met back with Darry and in the process, I got a group of great new friends."

Darry sat up a bit, "I got Marilyn, and I got closer with my brothers."

"I got new friends, and became _somewhat_ of a better person," Evie laughed, "And I already had Steve, so."

Steve mocked fake hurt, "Well, don't I feel special." She laughed and quickly pulled his face to hers and kissed him. She pulled back and smiled. "Now I feel better," he smiled at her.

We all continued going through everything, which took nearly ten minutes. That meant only five minutes till 1966 was over. I'm not even sure though if I was happy or not that the year was ending. I mean, Darry and Sodapop were right. 1966 was crazy for all of us, more so than others of course, but still crazy. A lot of us had been through a lot. Been through some sort of heartbreak, or pain of some sort.

But like I said, there were good things that had happened that made all the crazy a little more bearable.

"The ball's about to drop! They're starting the countdown!" Suzie called. We each all grabbed a noise maker off the table. I went back to the living room and watched the screen as the crowd in Times Square got ready to see the glass ball fall to the ground. Two-Bit grabbed my hand and headed to the door. "Two-Bit, what're you-"

"Just c'mon," he smiled and dragged me out the door to the porch.

"It's so cold out though. And the New Year's Eve ball is about to fall," I said and crossed my arms tight to keep warm." He nodded, "I know, I know... just be patient." I heard everyone inside start the countdown.

_"10... 9... 8..."_

"Can we please-" I started. "Wait, wait , wait," he said and looked inside the house through the window.

_"7... 6... 5... 4... 3..."_

"C'mon, can't we-"

_"2...1!"_

Two-Bit cupped my chin and his lips pressed against mine. I finally realized what he was doing. I kissed back and wrapped my arms around his neck and my hands on the back of his neck. He pulled back and smiled at me, "I love you, Raina Johnson."

I knew I was smiling, big at that. I pulled his head down and kissed him again. I finally knew the answer to both Mrs. Mathews' and Keilah's questions if I loved him or not.

I pulled back and tried to bite back my huge smile, "I love you too, Keith Mathews."

**That was cute, admit it, you know it was cute how I did that for New Year's :) I at least hope **_**you **_**thought it was cute, I mean, that's what I was going for so yeah… people on watt pad liked it so yeah, maybe watt pad people and fanfiction. Net aren't so different, considering I'm one of those people who can't have just one and I have both so yeah… that was weird- anyway, hope you liked the chapter! =^-^=**


	23. Chapter 23

Suzie stood with her family a few feet away from where I stood with Two-Bit, his mom and Keilah. The rest didn't stand too far away, talking among themselves since they had already said their goodbye's. Ponyboy stood behind Suzie. It was cold at the moment but at the moment, it didn't really phase me- which was shocking considering I was only wearing a leather jacket and I couldn't even zip it cause the zipper was broken.

"...and you write to us as soon as you get the chance, alright?" Mrs. Mathews said to her son.

Two-Bit nodded, "I will, don't worry." He leaned down to Keilah,"Now you better behave and do what Mom says, got it?" She nodded. He smiled, ruffled her hair and gave her one final hug. He turned back to his mother, who hugged him. He turned to me and whispered, "I'm gonna miss you."

"I'll miss you too... I love you," I whispered back.

"I love you too." He leaned down and quickly kissed and hugged me goodbye, then turned to the bus taking everyone to the airport. As I watched him walk to the bus, I played around with the heart locket hanging around my neck with my fingertips. Keilah hugged her mother tight. Two-Bit turned back to everyone with a wave and a weak smile as he went into the bus, they copied his first two actions. I saw Suzie's brother walk in behind him.

"Rain, ain't ya about to freeze to death?" Soda came up behind me, like the big-brother he felt like.

I still didn't really notice how cold it was. I crossed my arms to keep warm, looked down and shook my head 'no'. I didn't feel like speaking.

I looked back at the bus as it drove away and fought back tears. "Remember, my door is always open," gave a weak smile and her voice was quiet. I gave the smile and nodded as her and Keilah walked back to the car.

I went over to my friends who patiently waited for me and Suzie, who was still with her family. "You gonna be ok, Rain?" Evie asked quietly. I nodded, but still said nothing. In reality I wasn't, and I knew they all knew that- but I refused to verbally admit to it. Inside, I wanted to stop the bus and make him stay, but I knew I couldn't.

I was happy we had all the photos from Christmas developed by January 1. He had photos to take with him, plus we all had pictures of all of us together. Before things changed. Before we had a care in the world about the whole God-forsaken war. Before-

"Rain?!"

I quickly turned my head. "You sure you're ok? You kinda spaced out, you alright?" Darry asked with a worried expression.

I nodded. "Im ok, really. I am," I said quietly. Most of them gave me an unsure or unconvinced look. "I really am fine, ok? I'm fine, I promise." They all still looked unconvinced but finally took my answer. "We should probably get back to the house, it's getting pretty cold and I don't want anyone getting sick," Darry said. We headed to the house and I stuffed my hands in my pockets and felt a piece of paper:

_"Rain,_  
_First, you're probably wondering how I got this note in your pocket. When I hugged you, I slipped it in your pocket. Anyway I wrote this last night for you. I put my house keys and my car keys in your bag for school. I talked it over with my mom and she said she was ok with you having them till I come back. I know my car ain't the best, but it runs ok. Another thing, go to the garage I work at and ask for the manager, Rusty. When he asks who you are, tell him you're my girlfriend, he'll know who you are. Anyway, I want you to know I'm gonna miss you a lot. A whole lot. Tell the gang I'll miss them a long too while I'm away. I swear I'll write to you, first chance I get. I hope I'll get to come back real soon so I can see you and the rest of them bums soon. I have the pictures from Christmas and even some from your birthday. I'm itching to make the other guys there jealous that I'm dating you and they can't. Anyway, I'll write as soon as I get there. I love you. - Two-Bit"_

I smiled at the note, and even laughed at some of the things he wrote. "What's so funny?" Marilyn asked confused. I handed her the note. She smiled and handed it back after she read it. I asked Darry if I could go to the garage and he said yes... but since it was on the way to the house, they wouldn't be too far behind, but far enough that I couldn't see them.

Although at the moment, if any Soc got me pissed off, they'd be sorry.

I got to the place and there were five people sitting in front of the shop in colorfully clothes and looked kind of in a daze, but I couldn't be sure with the sunglasses they had on. The bell hooked up to the door rang when I walked in. "Be right there!" a man called from a side room. A minute later he came out from the room and behind the desk. He looked to be is his late forties or early fifties and had car and oil grease on his uniform. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped when he saw the group outside. "Excuse me," he said then went outside.

I watched as the man shouted at the group and they ran off. He came back in, shaking his head. "Damn hippies," he mumbled. He came back behind the desk and sighed, "Sorry about that. What can I do for ya, darlin'?"

I took the note out of my pocket and read what to say. "Uh... my boyfriend Two-Bit told me to come here and ask for Rusty."

"You found him," the man smiled, "You must be Rain, then."

I nodded.

"So you're Two-Bit's girl? With the prettiest eyes he ever seen, he says?"

I felt my cheeks get pink and I bit back a smile and looked at the ground.

Rusty laughed. "Anyway... he sent you over here cause I told him I'd give ya a job. Said you applied for one at the Dingo down a few blocks away as a waitress. Now, I know a garage ain't the most ladylike place to be workin'- but I've seen the uniforms at the place, and that ain't so ladylike neither. I have a daughter 'bout your age, and I sure as hell wouldn't want her wearin' them uniforms," he laughed, "At least here ya get to wear somethin' that don't show what you don't want showin'!"

I laughed and nodded. "Two of my friends work there and they hate the uniforms... their boyfriends ain't too fond of them either."

He laughed again. "Yeah... so you want the job, kid?"

"Well, what would I be doing?"

"Probably workin' the desk... I've been meanin' to hire someone for the desk, but I never got around to it," he shrugged.

I shrugged a bit and nodded. "Sure, I'll take it."

He smiled. "Great! Come by here tomorrow at ten, you'll work till four, then we'll figure out you're schedule for when school starts back up."

I thanked him then headed back to the house. When I got there, everybody had just got back there too. I honestly wouldn't be shocked if they were a block behind me then took some short cut back and made it look like they weren't still following me.

..._that night..._

_"Rain, could you check the mail?" Darry called from the other room. "Alright," I called back. I went outside and Soda and Candy were walking toward the house. I smiled at them as they walked past and they did the same. I went to the mailbox and got out the few envelopes. Bill, bill, Darry's paycheck... the U.S. Military? Addressed to me?_

_I rested the other envelopes on the box and opened the one addressed to me:_  
_"Miss Raina Johnson,_  
_On behalf of the U.S. Military, we are sorry to inform you that Keith Mathews has passed. One of the Viet-Cong shot him when the U.S. camp he was stationed in was invaded during the night. We are truly sorry about your loss."_

_I couldn't move. The letter slipped from my hand into the ground. Tears ran down my cheeks and a slight screech came from the back of my throat. I felt weak. "Rain?!" someone called. Candy came rushing to my side as I fell in my knees. "Rain, what happened? What's wrong?"_

_I slowly picked up the letter and handed it to her. She read it then quickly hugged me. I hugged back. I was having an emotional breakdown of some sort of what I just read._

"No!" I screamed. I shot up in bed and breathed heavy. "It was just a dream," I said to myself hopefully.

Darry and Sodapop came into my room. "What happened?!" Darry asked.

I shook my head a bit, "Bad dream... but just to be sure, what's today's date? And the year?"

"January 3, 1967... why?" Sodapop asked and sat on the edge of my bed.

I shook my head again. "Just making sure... I'm sorry I woke you guys. Did I wake up Ponyboy?"

Sodapop shook his head, "Kid's still asleep."

"You sure you're ok?"

"I'm fine, really," I said quietly.

They nodded and left the room. I didn't get an ounce of sleep the rest of the night.

**Hi! Ok so I just realized I could just copy and paste what I have on wattpad for the document for fanfiction. Net, I don't know why I didn't think of that till about 23 chapters later… anyway, because of that, sorry if I have any mistakes, I always read through it when I upload it and then if I see mistakes I'm always like "**_**Oh, I'll fix it later**_**" and I even do that with wattpad but then I never get to it… to think, I've been writing fan fiction for about three years now since I was in eighth grade, and now I'm a sophomore in high school (tenth grade) so you think I would've learned by now, but I am and always will be lazy (I've actually been lazy since I was a baby cause I didn't really cry for anything, my parents say, unless I was hungry or tired… if there was anything else wrong, I wouldn't cry- that's how lazy I was and it still continues) anyway, this chapter was sad I know it XP don't be mad at me! Just think of happy songs like Footloose! (I'm listening to the radio and that's the song that just played... I listen to WCBSFM cause they play all eighties and seventies and that's the music I like so yeah) anyway, bye! =^-^=**


	24. Chapter 24

I walked up the steps of the school with Candy, Ponyboy, Evie and Suzie. Suzie's parents had decided to let her start walking to school with us. Mostly cause Ponyboy would be there and they liked him. Although, I kinda felt bad for him. Now when we would walk to school, he would be the only boy- unless Sodapop would come to walk Candy, or Steve with Evie, though they probably wouldn't, considering their boss had changed the hours and wanted the two of them to get there earlier. Pony would be the only boy walking with us- no pun intended with his name. Anyway, he'd be the only boy and I really hoped he wouldn't get teased for walking around with a bunch of girls other than his girlfriend.

"Why does it have to get so damn cold?" Evie complained when we got inside the school.

Ponyboy started to answer to answer her question.

"Pony, if you give me one of those literal science answers you learned in class, you'll never be able to give another one again,' Evie snapped at him and he quickly shut his mouth.

"Ok, what bit you in the behind?" I asked, confused by her hostility.

"Nothing..." she snapped again and walked off, more like stormed off.

We all gave each other weird looks. "What's her problem?" Ponyboy asked quietly, making sure she wasn't around to hear him.

Candy sighed a bit, "Your brother told me that her and Steve were having problems."

"Them?!" Suzie nearly yelled, shocked by the answer, "I thought those two would always be together and never have problems!"

The bell rang saying it was time for everyone to head to their first class. Ponyboy and Suzie waved goodbye as they headed to their homeroom. "Soda told me what's really going on between them," Candy said as we headed to homeroom.

"How does he know?" I asked her.

"Steve's his best friend and tells him everything... the problem they're having is that Evie might be pregnant." Her voice was quiet and she gave a worried look.

My eyes widened a bit. "Is she sure she is? And is it Steve's?"

She shook her head, "She's not one-hundred percent sure, but it would be his even if she is."

"Why doesn't she just take a pregnancy test?"

"Well, she's coming over my house this weekend and I was gonna suggest that to her... maybe you should come too."

I nodded. "Yeah, of course. Will she be mad you told me?"

She shrugged as we got into the classroom, "We'll find that out then."

The school day went by slowly. So slow that I couldn't wait to get to work. Rusty and I worked out a schedule that after school during the week, I would be at the body shop working the front desk from 3:30 to 5:30, and on the weekends it would be from 10 in the morning till 12:30 in the afternoon. I didn't have as many hours as everyone else who worked there cause I was still in school at seventeen, while the second youngest person working there was nineteen years old and didn't go to college.

I didn't have a jumpsuit type uniform like everyone else who worked there. Rusty had bought a blue button up shirt with the emblem of the garage on the right-hand side, a pocket on the left and "Rain" stitched onto the pocket with red letters. I tied the edges a little under the top edge of my jeans since it was too big. Rusty said since he forgot to ask my shirt size when he was buying stuff for the shop, he "bought a real big one" as he said.

I was straightening out the paers scattered all over the desk. it looked like a tornado hit through the desk since no one really worked the desk. The bell hooked up to the door rang and a guy with greased-back dirty blonde hair, brown eyes and broad shoulders walked in. Obviously another Greaser. He was nearly Darry's height. I'd be lying if I didn't find the guy somewhat attractive, but he did nothing for me. Nothing like how most girls would "get butterflies" when they first saw him or whatever, I didn't find him appealing in any way, shape or form.

He leaned over the desk. "Hey dollface," he smirked at me.

I held back an eye roll along with a scoff and put on a fake smile, "What can I do for you?"

His smirk diminished a bit but it was still somewhat present. "My uncle wanted me to come by here to give me a job. He's the manager."

"You're related to Rusty?"

Before he could answer, Rusty came out from the side office. "Rain, who's- oh! James, you actually showed up! Didn't think you would... Rain, this is my nephew, James. James, this is my new worker, Rain."

"That answer your question?" James smirked and this time I did roll my eyes.

"Wait here while I get you a uniform," Rusty commanded his nephew then disappeared to the garage.

"So, Rain's your real name?"

"It's a nickname for Raina," I answered, looking back down at the papers I went through. He held the heart locket on the chain around my neck from Two-Bit in his fingertips and inspected it. I backed up a bit, far enough where it slipped out from his fingers and fell back against my neck. "Please don't touch that," I said sternly as he moved his hand toward mine. I pulled my hand away, "Or me."

"Why not?"

"I'm with someone and the necklace is from my boyfriend, he gave it to me before he left for Vietnam."

"Volunteer or draft?"

"None of your business," I snapped. He leaned closer to me and I backed up again, "Can you not do that?" I raised my voice a bit.

"Who's gonna stop me?"

I leaned my hands on the desk. "Hey, ever hear of a Greaser who died last year... Dallas Winston?"

He chuckled, "Damn everybody knew who Dallas Winston was. Why?"

"He was a friend of mine..."

"What's your point?"

"My point is: I beat him up three times since I knew him, and let's just say two of those times, he couldn't walk properly... if I can do that to him, I sure as hell can do that to you," I growled,"Ya dig?"

Rusty came back in and handed him one of the uniforms, then signaled James to follow him to the garage. Before James went in, he leaned and whispered in my ear, "Feisty one, huh?... I like it." He smirked at me and winked as I glared at him and he followed his uncle into the garage.

I never thought I would have such a strong hatred for another Greaser so much. I didn't even hate the Shepard's this much, at least them I got along with somewhat. James though, he was another story.

_...that weekend..._

Candy had told Evie that she told me about her problem. Right then and there, she broke down into tears saying how scared she was about it. I'd never thought I would see Evie cry, but there she was right in front of me, crying on my shoulder. As long as I'd known her, she was one of those tuff, tough Greaser girls. But she kept saying that if she was pregnant that her parents would kick her out, she wouldn't be able to take care of the baby when it was born, and she was mostly scared that Steve would leave her since he was nervous too about the whole situation. Now I know Steve is a jerk, but when it came to Evie, he cared about her and he wouldn't do that to her, or his kid if she was. I felt bad for herm though. Seeing her so scared worried me, and I didn't want anything bad to happen to her. Candy and I would be there for her though, whether she was or wasn't pregnant.

James had tried to hit on me a couple other times, and I would be lying if I said he wasn't starting to really piss me off. I kept telling him I had a boyfriend but he wouldn't listen. He was one of those Greasers apparently like Dallas or Curly. Now I'm not saying Dallas was _horrible_, but ya had to get used to him. He had hit on me when I was fourteen, and that was one of the times I beat him up and hurt him so bad that he couldn't walk or do anything really for a week... the flirting stopped.

I got to Candy's house at about 6:30. Evie was already there, sitting on Candy's bed hugging a pillow and biting her nails. "You're gonna take the test, right?" Candy asked her, and EVie nodded slowly. CAndy nodded, went to her bag, took out the small box and handed it to Evie, who went to the bathroom. "How were you able to sneak that past your parents?" I asked Candy sitting down on her bed.

She sat down next to me and scoffed, "Please... my mom was easy, it was Soda who I had the trouble passing it by."

"Really? How?"

"He saw me paying for it when I was paying for it for Evie and he freaked. We haven't... ya know... so he got worried."

I forgot she didn't know the whole story with Sandy but chose not to mention it. "Well, how'd you calm him down?"

"I told him about Evie. He already knew about their problems, considering he's the one who told me. But when he saw me with it, he forgot about her for a sec."

I was about to say something when we heard Evie scream from the bathroom. Candy and I looked at each other then rushed to the bathroom. "What happened?!" I asked when we reached the bathroom. She smiled wide and held up the test, "I'm not pregnant!" Candy and I both relaxed and EVie went to call Steve. "Think we'll ever have to deal with this again?" Candy asked. I chuckled lightly,"Let's just say, I wouldn't be shocked if we ever did."

_...the next day..._

"Letter for a Miss Raina Johnson, all the way from Vietnam!" Sodapop called, coming back into the house from getting the mail. I smiled and jumped up from the dining room table, nearly knocking over my breakfast onto the floor. Sodapop handed me the envelope and I sat on the couch and opened the letter:

_"Dear Rain,_

_I finally got a chance to write to you! I know it's been a week since I left, but they had us all in boot camp for the whole week. Did you go to see Rusty? Maybe you got a job there instead of working at the Dingo in those uniforms we all love so much? Anyways, how ya doing? I'm ok over here, pretty tired from the boot camp but I'm ok. Suzie's big brother and Curly are both in my unit, probably cause we're all from Tulsa, I don't know. Her brother digs ok, but him and Curly butt heads. Now that I think about it, maybe being with Curly ain't such a hot thing. Anyways, I miss ya. A lot. One of the other guys caught me looking at a picture of the two of us from Christmas I brought with me and yelled_ that broad yours?! I ain't gonna lie, she sure is pretty! _I know you don't like the word broad, but still, I get bragging rights since I told you in the note that was gonna happen. Anyway's, how's everybody else over there? Tell 'em I said hey. I love you, Rain._

_\- Two-Bit"_

I ran to my room to write back:

"_Two-Bit,_

_I miss you so much! I hope they didn't treat ya too bad. And with Curly, that could be good or bad- just watch out for him, now he's a hood. The kind that gives Greasers a bad name and gets us all dirty looks. Anyway, I did go to see Rusty, and thank you SO MUCH for getting me a job there instead of working at the Dingo! I don't have to wear a uniform where I show! And everyone's ok here, missing you. Steve and Evie were having problems this week but I'm pretty sure they're ok now. Don't tell anyone yo know and that I told you, but they thought Evie was pregnant, but turns out she isn't (thankfully!). Anyway, I miss you and can't wait till you get back! I love you too!_

_P.S. your car is working fine, thank you for letting me use it_

_-Rain"_

I out the letter in an envelope and raced to the door. "Hold up, Rain! Where're ya going?" Darry called before I got out the door. "Post office! I gotta mail this letter!" I called back then ran to the post office.


	25. Chapter 25

"I heard about this concert in a year or two in New York. Maybe we all could go?" Evie said.

We all sat in the living room talking, again. It was raining out so there wasn't anything to do. "What's the concert called?" Sodapop asked.

"Woodstock, I think. I'm not fully sure if it's even gonna happen, I only head rumors through town."

Darry came rushing into the room, Marilyn followed close behind him with a confused expression. "No! No one here is going to the concert, whatever the hell it's called," he ordered.

"Why? What's wrong with it?" Suzie asked.

"A few guys where I work were talking about it. It's this concert for the hippies... and I highly doubt there're be any music actually going on."

"What do you mean?" Candy asked.

"Um..." Darry looked at Ponyboy and Suzie, "You two, cover your ears." They did as they were told and Darry looked back at the rest of us, "It's gonna be full of sex, drugs, alcohol, and- sorry for my words, but it's true- a whole bunch of other countless shit that everyone who goes will regret in twenty years."

We all shared looks. "Maybe, we shouldn't go," I said.

Two-Bit was still away in Vietnam and hadn't even been sent home to visit. Not even for a week! I mean, I get that there's a war and everything but they can't just send him back here for a little while? He does have a life here in Tulsa. A family, friends, girlfriend...

Though I still hadn't told him about James hitting on me. Or any of the gang for that matter. I tried to avoid him or block him out of my life at all costs. He kept asking to take me out on a date and I kept telling him no. But he just kept asking me and asking me and asking me and wouldn't leave me alone. I couldn't even hurt him cause he was related to my boss and if I got fired, I'd be stuck at the Dingo. And the worst part? He was in my class.

..._Monday, after school at work_...

I went through the papers on the desk until the door opened and the bell rang. I looked up and saw Griffin, who walked up to the desk. "How can I help you?" I asked. My heart felt like it pounded outta my chest and my hands shook a bit. He nodded,"Yeah... could someone check out my tires? They're working weird and my car is driving odd." I nodded and went to get James to check out the car, maybe I could get rid of him for a bit.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" Griffin asked while he waited for the car.

I shrugged nonchalantly, not looking up at him. "Doubt it... unless you know any Greasers, which I highly doubt, considering you pound on them."

"Watch how you talk, Greaser." His voice was stern.

I really wasn't in the mood to deal with him. I was ready to jump over the desk and knee him, but for the sake of my job and my safety, I held myself back and went back to the papers on my desk.

James came back to tell Griffin the car was done and that the problem was that he had nails in the tires and they were slowly losing air. Griffin paid for the repair then left, James was about to come by me until someone called him from the garage. He looked annoyed but went to the garage, and I silently thanked whoever called him. Like I said, I wasn't in the mood to deal with Griffin, same with James.

"Is there a Rain here?" someone asked and the bell on the door rang.

I looked up and saw Sodapop and Candy walking to the desk. I smiled and stood up,"Hey, what're you two doin' here?"

"You shift ends at 5:30 right?" Candy asked and I nodded.

Sodapop pointed to the clock on the wall, that read 5:44. "We were wonderin' why you weren't at the house yet. We were sent to see if there were any signs of rain... and you too," he teased.

I rolled my eyes and chuckled. "Ha-ha, very funny."

"Who's he?" a voice came from behind me. I turned and it was James.

Sodapop and Candy faves confused looks. I glared at James who had an expression of jealousy, probably from me laughing with Sodapop. "None of your business," I growled at James.

"No, who is this guy?" he motioned to Soda.

"Her big brother," he stepped up then whispered to me,"Play along."

James gave a weird look. "You two are brother and sister?"

"She looks like Dad, I look like Mom."

James look unconvinced but finally took the answer and went back to the garage. I took off my uniform shirt, put my shirt back on, grabbed my jacket and left with them. "Thanks," I sighed.

"Who's that creep?" Candy asked.

"My boss' nephew."

"What's his deal?" Soda asked with a dirty look and looked back at the garage.

"He keeps hitting on me even though I say I have a boyfriend."

"And he doesn't listen to you?" Candy look annoyed.

I shook my head. "Not at all."

"How long has he been bothering you?"

I sighed, knowing I'd never hear the end of this. "January..."

Both their eyes widened. "January?!" Soda yelled.

By now we were in front of the house. Darry came out of the house to get the mail,"What about January?" Sodapop explained everything to his big brother and me and Candy went inside the house. Ponyboy sat doing homework at the table, Steve wasn't there. Marilyn, Suzie and Evie weren't in the house at the moment. Maybe that wasn't such a horrible thing at the moment. "Have you told Two-Bit yet in your letters?" Candy whispered. I shook my head. "Rain," Darry called from the porch,"Out here."

I sighed and hesitantly went outside to the porch where the two brothers stood. "Why haven't you told anyone?" Darry asked sternly. He was in what I call, "legal guardian mode".

I sighed, shrugged and leaned against the doorpost. "I don't know... I thought I'd be able to handle him."

"You know we all would've made sure he stopped," Sodapop said.

"I know, I know..."

"Did you tell Two-Bit?" Darry asked. I looked down at my feet and shook my head. "Next time you write to him, please tell him." Darry sounded more disappointed than angry. I nodded. Sodapop sighed,"He hasn't done nothing too bad to ya, right?" I shook my head and he nodded,"If he bother's you... you know who to call." He cracked his knuckles and smirked a bit. I couldn't help but laugh. Darry rolled his eyes but laughed too.

..._school next day_...

"...I don't know, I might go. Steve doesn't really wanna go so I'm not sure," Evie shrugged at Candy and Suzie.

I sat down next to Candy and set my lunch down on the table. "Go where?"

"The Valentine's Day dance."

I groaned at the thought. I was never into those things, and I wasn't just cause my boyfriend wouldn't be there to go with me. In eighth grade was when my first dance was. I was only me and Johnny who went considering everybody else was in high school, except for Ponyboy who was in sixth grade. The two of us decided to go together since neither of us really knew anyone in the school. We were just going as friends, nothing else. It wasn't terrible, I'll admit, I just couldn't figure out what the whole to-do was about it and I still didn't.

"Are you gonna go, Rain?"

I shrugged. "Don't count on it."

"But you have to! It'll be fun!" Candy smiled.

"How 'bout this... the four of us go together. No guys, no boyfriends. Just as four. Will ya do that?" Evie suggested.

I finally gave in. "Alright, fine. I'll go."

"Good thing Ponyboy didn't wanna go," Suzie laughed.

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly. The three kept talking about the dance every chance they got, like everybody else in the school. Now don't get me wrong, the three of them are some of my closest friends... but I just wasn't used to their girlieness yet.

I grew up with guys. The closest thing I had to being girlie was giving them girl advice as we got older.

When I got to work, James wasn't there. Rusty said that he'd taken the day off, and I couldn't be happier that he did. Rusty seemed pretty happy about it too. After all the talk at the school about the dance, and since he went to our school, I wanted to avoid him even more. Especially since Darry and Sodapop wanted me to tell Two-Bit in my next letter.

I got inside and didn't see anyone when I went back to the house. I was kinda confused but when I went to get the mail, Darry drove up to the house in his pickup truck with Sodapop, Ponyboy and Steve all getting out. "Hey Rain, anything in the mail?" Darry asked as we all walked back inside. I looked through the envelopes then stopped when one had a return address of Vietnam and the name said _Lieutenant Keith Mathews_. I gave Darry the rest of the mail then ran to my room to read the letter.

_"Rain,_  
_Things still going alright back home? I sure hope so. How ya holding up? Hopefully winter ain't getting to you too bad. Ok, so remember how Curly was in my unit? Not anymore! Kid got transferred to some other base. Less for me to deal with! Anyways, I know I say this in every letter, but with Valentine's Day coming up, I really wish I was back home to be with you. Even if it were just a few minutes. All I know is, I just wanna see you- even though you probably wouldn't recognize me with my uniform and awful haircut. I think I know how Ponyboy felt when he cut his hair w few months back, except I didn't have to bleach mine! Anyways, hope everything's goin' alright back there. I love you and I miss you._  
_\- Two-Bit"_

I quickly got out a pen and paper:

_"Two-Bit,_  
_Well that's good that you don't gotta deal with Curly anymore! But I'll admit, I feel bad for those guys stuck with him now. And I wish you'd be here too for Valentine's Day. Me, Suzie, Candy and Evie were all talking about the stupid dance. The three of 'em convinced me to go. So the four of us are goin', no guys. And I'd probably recognize you, I've seen you with different haircuts over the years before you finally settled on one look. Anyways, there's something I have to tell you. Rusty has a nephew who started working as a mechanics at the garage since a week after me. He's been bothering me ever since his first day, and by bothering me, I mean hitting on me. Unfortunately, he's a good like Curly, in that sense anyway. Before you worry that I'm breaking up with you- I'M NOT. I just thought you should know, also- I've threatened to beat him up if he doesn't stop. Plus, Darry, Sodapop and Steve have their eyes on him. I miss and I love you too._  
_-Rain"_

I put the letter in the envelope, ran out the house and to the post office. Thankfully, the guys all had gotten used to me running out to mail the letter as soon as I got one.


	26. Chapter 26

"I don't think I've ever seen you in a dress before," Candy smiled at me as I stood in front of the mirror in the dress shop.

Marilyn took me, Evie, Suzie and Candy out to get dresses to wear to the Valentine's Day dance at school. I wasn't too fond of the idea of going dress shopping, but they all nearly dragged me to Marilyn's car to go with them. I'm almost positive that the other three had dresses already in their classes that they could wear, and I had a skirt to wear- but they all insisted that we go and get new dresses. And from what I understood, they wanted to go get new shoes too.

The dress that I chose was dark blue, sleeveless, and the collar was a light green and so was the belt on the dress around my waist. Suzie's was exactly like mine except instead of blue, her dress was yellow and the belt and collar were white. Evie had a light blue dress with thin straps. Candy had a red dress with tiny white polka dots and a white belt. When we went to get shoes, we all got flats the same exact color of what color our dress was.

"Yeah, well don't expect it all the time," I said to Candy as we all walked out of the shop.

"Well, all of you will look absolutely beautiful and every guy in that gym will wish you four were single," Marilyn smiled when we got to her car.

If you couldn't tell, I was closer with Candy out of all of them. Maybe cause we were in the same grade and class and literally, all of our classes were together. Or maybe cause she was dating Sodapop, who I was pretty close with considering he was only a year older than me and that he's easy to get along with, plus I met him first out of everybody when we were little. He was that annoying big brother that you had to love no matter how much he annoyed you. Maybe it was both that made me so close with her. Probably both, not that I'm complaining.

"So, how'd it go?" Darry asked Marilyn when we got back to the house.

"It went great and all four of them will be complete heartbreakers in that gym," she smiled.

"You're gonna wear a dress?" Ponyboy asked me with a shocked expression.

"Don't expect it all the time... or ever again," I answered and he laughed.

"Oh!" he got up, grabbed something off the table and held it out to me, "This came for you." I took what was in his hand and read the front of the envelope. I quickly opened the envelope and unfolded the paper inside:

_"Rain,_

_There's someone who's been flirting with you?! I'll kill him! Wait, you threatened him? Wow, that's my tough girl. Anyway, that don't sound too bad to do with the three of 'em. But are you actually gonna wear a dress? Never thought I'd see the day when you wore a dress- no offense! I just never saw you in a dress cause I know you hate them! And I'm shocked that Sodapop, Steve and Ponyboy didn't decide to take the rest of 'em. It must've took a lot of convincing cause I remember a few years back you saying how much you hated dances and thought they were boring. I know you and Johnny went that one year and you said you never wanted to go to another one of 'em in your whole life. But, I hope you have fun with the three of 'em. Anyway, if I don't write to you again before Tuesday... Happy Valentine's Day. I love you and I always will._

_\- Two-Bit"_

I ran to my room and wrote a letter back:

_"Two-Bit, _

_Don't worry- Darry, Sodapop and even Steve have their eyes on him for me. Shockingly, so does Tim Shepard (we're still on good terms with the Shepard's so that helps). And yes, believe it or not, I will be wearing a dress. It's dark blue so that's one reason I'm wearing cause you know I absolutely love dark colors. Sodapop, Steve and Ponyboy aren't taking them cause Evie said just the four of us and they all convinced them of it. I don't think the guys were too disappointed that they wouldn't be able to take them though with how they reacted. And trust me, it did take a lot of convincing. And just cause I'm going doesn't mean I still don't hate those things. Maybe I can send you a picture of the four of us so you can see me in a dress! You probably won't recognize me that way! Anyways... I miss you, so much. Happy Valentine's Day, I love you too and always will._

_-Rain" _

I quickly put the letter i the envelope, put on my jacket, ran out my room and to the porch to go to the post office. "And she's off!" Sodapop called in a teasing voice. I quickly turned back around and stuck my head in through the doorway. "At least I run faster than you," I smirked and teased him then headed back out, not without hearing "ooh's" going around the room.

..._Valentine's Day Dance_...

"C'mon! Steve's lettin' me borrow his car," Evie smiled.

The four of us got into the car, with EVie driving. SHe had a license, but I'd never been in a car with her driving. Was I nervous about being in a car with her behind the wheel? Hell yeah. But maybe since she was dating Steve- who, I admit, is a pretty good driver, especially in drag races- she wasn't too bad either? I have no idea, but I'm just tryin to think positively that I won't die in this car wiht her.

We got to the school in about ten minutes. Thankfully, Evie was n't a horrible driver. Everybody was piling out of their cars. Some couples were rushing into their cars. Some couples should've gotten into their cars with how they were making out on the front lawn of the school. Some people were stumbling around with flasks and bottles in brown paper bags in their hands. Out of all the sights, that one made me wanna gag the most.

"Guys, c'mon! I can hear Pink Floyd songs playing!" Candy smiled. She grabbed my arm and pulled me to the gym with her and Evie and Suzie. I liked Pink Floyd, but as far as rock bands went, I preferred the Rolling Stones most over most bands. I'm not saying I don't like Pink Floyd, but when it came to music, my favorite would always be... Elvis Presley. The only person close to who was my second favorite was Johnny Cash, but I don't think anyone or anything would change that I loved Elvis.

We got to the gym and my jaw nearly dropped to the floor. I didn't think the whole school would show up. Before we went in, they dragged me over to a man outside the gym who was taking pictures for the students who wanted a picture together. We all got a copy, and I got an extra to send Two-Bit like I said I would. We all put the pictures in our lockers to get tomorrow during school then went back to the gym.

I went to get a drink at the snack table while the three of them went to go dance a few feet away from where I was standing. I didn't really know how to dance. The only things I really knew I how to do was the twist and the hand-jive. But one- the twist was a couples dance. Two- I highly doubt that they would play the hand-jive. Last time I'd ever seen anyone do that was on American Bandstand in 1959, which was Marilyn's cousin and her fiance.

..._three hours later_...

Evie, Candy, and Suzie did manage to get me on the dance floor. Lucky for them, the DJ played ELvis a lot of the night. "We're gonna go to the bathroom, gonna come Rain?" Candy asked. I chuckled a bit and shook my head,"No, I think I'll wait here." The three of them nodded and walked off and I went to get a drink from the table.

James slumped to the table, knocking over a few things and the crash made me jump. "Hey Rain," he slurred.

I cringed at the smell of alcohol in his breath,"Um... hi James."

"You look real good tonight." He smirked and took a drink from the can in his hand.

"Um... thanks... thank you James... I-I gotta go, my friends are waiting for me." I started to walk away from him, until he grabbed my arm and turned me back to face him. "James, let me go..."

"I've wanted to do this since I first met you." His lips crashed onto mine. I tried to pull away but he held me tight. I could taste the alcohol he had been drinking and it made me think of that night with Griffin and his little gang. I wished Two-Bit was here, but at the moment, I had to fend for myself. I used my free hand to hit James on the side of his head and he pulled back. When he pulled away, I kneed him and he doubled over. I quickly ran out of the gym and out of the building to where Evie parked the car. I ran into the door and the handle cut my hand. I forgot the door was locked. I sreamed a bit and tried to ignore the pain on the cut on my hand. I leaned back against the car and let the tears roll down my cheeks.

This was literally the worst school dance I'd ever been to.

I walked a few blocks away to try and calm down then decided to call the house to get a ride home. I went to the nearest payphone and dialed the house number. "Hello?" I heard in Steve's voice.

"Steve? This is Rain," I sniffed and wiped my eyes with my other hand, thankful that I never wore makeup.

"Rain? Are you cring?"

"Um, yeah... can you meet me at the DX?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. I'll be there in about five minutes."

I hung up and made my way to the DX, thankful I chose flats and thankful that the DX wasn't far away from where I was. It took about five minutes to walk ther but Steve wasn't there yet. I sat on the bench on the sidewalk in front of the building. I leaned my elbows on my kneess buried my face in my hands, careful not to let blood from the cut get on my face or in my hair. I felt tears run down my cheeks again and I cried loud. I didn't like crying, but it just happened and I didn't know what to do really right now. "Rain?" someone called out. I looked up and saw Darry's truck.

I stood up so they could see me since it was pretty dark out. The truck pulled over and stopped in front of me. I saw Sodapop in the driver's seat and Steve in the passenger's seat. I remembered that Steve lent Evie his car and that Sodapop was there probably cause it was Darry's truck. The two got out and sat down at both my sides on the bench. "Why'd you call before crying?" Steve asked, for the first time actually genuinely caring about me.

"What happened to your hand?" Sodapop asked before I answered Steve's question. He went back to the truck then came back with a white bandana in his hand. "Hold out your hand," he commanded.

"Now what happened?" Steve asked again.

I sighed,"Remember that guy who kept bothering me from my job?" They both nodded. "Well he was at the dance cause he comes to the high school. Evie, Candy and Suzie all went to the bathroom and I said I'd wait for them in the gym. I went to get something to drink and he showed up, completely drunk. He grabbed me the kissed me."

"How'd you get rid of the guy?" Sodapop wrapped the bandana around my hand with the cut.

"I hit him upside the head and he pulled away, then I hit him where it hurts."

"And the cut?"

"I hit it hard against the handle on the car when I ran out... look I just wanna go home right now..." My voice was quiet and they both nodded. We all go tback into the truck and drove back to the house.

All I could do was think about the letter I last got from Two-Bit. "_I love you and I always will." _I played with heart locket around my neck again, which had become a nervous habit of mine. I had to tell him what James did. He'd probably kill all the Vietnamese soldiers and end the war just so he could come back and kill James for what he did. There's a rule in the Greaser community: never steal anyone's girl unless you want a heater held against the side of your head and a bullet through your skull. Two-Bit had talked to Johnny and Ponyboy once about that.

But, would he still love me after this stunt? I mean, it's not like I wanted James to kiss me, and I didn't kiss him back. I tried to pull away but his hand was tightly around my one arm and it was nearly impossible to get free.

We got back to the house and I ran to my room, closing the door behind me and blocking it with a chair. I didn't leave the room the rest of the night and didn't let anyone in, no matter how much they knocked and the door to get in.

**I'M FINALLY CAUGHT UP WITH WATTPAD CAUSE OF COPY AND PASTE XD now I just need to update them both at the same time and work on this one an my new fan fic… this'll be fun**


	27. Chapter 27

**Just a quick note, when I say she has jeans, to go along with the times, they're high waisted since that was the style most girls had for jeans at the time.**

Sunlight shown through the window and I blinked my eyes open. I glanced at the clock on my bedside table… 7:21am… I sat up and saw that I was still in my dress from the night before. _So it wasn't a dream,_ I thought. I quickly changed out of the dress and into shorts and a tank top and robe and quietly went to the bathroom to take a quick shower. I got out then quickly went back to my room to get dressed.

I put on a plain white button up shirt, blue jeans, black converse, my leather cuff, my gold locket, and my brown leather jacket. I braided my hair since it was still kinda wet. I quietly left the room to go back to the bathroom to get the first aid kit to clean my cut and replace the bandana Sodapop had placed around it the night before. I opened the disinfectant and nearly spilled it when I saw someone walk up behind me in the doorway in the mirror. Ponyboy rubbed the back of his neck and gave a nervous chuckle, "Oh… sorry, Rain. I didn't mean to scare you."

I shook it off and looked down, "It's… it's fine." My voice was quiet. I was still kinda shook up from the night before.

He sighed a bit. "You ok?"

"Pony, I don't… I don't really wanna talk about it right now."

"Alright, I won't force you… but realize Darry and Soda are gonna ask you about last night."

I nodded, knowing he was right. "I'll be right out. I just need to cover my cut." He nodded and walked out the doorway back into the other room.

I got the wrap gauze and wrapped it around the majority of my hand and a little up my wrist to keep it from coming off or loose. I put everything back in the kit then back in the cabinet, then debated in myself whether I should sneak out the bathroom window and just go right to school, or face the two brothers and be bombarded with questions. I finally decided to suck it up, and go to the dining room.

It was Sodapop's turn to make breakfast. The brothers all took turns doing that even before I moved in with them, but now even I was included in the pattern. When I sat down , I saw his notorious green pancakes. They weren't bad, but I just could never really bring myself to eat them. I'm not saying Soda's a bad cook, but I think it was the color that bothered me. The fact that they were green, which is usually the color that food turns when it goes bad, I don't know. Darry was at his usual seat at the table reading the morning paper. Ponyboy was in the living room getting everything he needed for school that day and stuffing it into his backpack. "Mornin' Rain," Sodapop said sitting in his usual seat at the table.

"Sleep ok?" Darry asked and looked up from the paper in his hand.

I nodded a bit, "I guess so."

Soda gestured to my hand, "How's the cut?"

I shrugged a bit again. "It's ok."

Darry set down his paper and gave a concerned look. "Now, what happened last night? Soda and Steve told me some of what happened, only what you told them. But you have to tell me what happened."

I looked at Ponyboy for a sec, who looked at me and nodded when he heard Darry ask about it. I sighed, "Long story short, James showed up drunk and wouldn't leave me alone. That explain it?"

His eyes widened a bit. "Please tell me he didn't…"

I quickly shook my head, "No!... no he didn't do that. He was drunk, he grabbed my arm and then kissed me like that night with those Socs. He only let go cause I slapped him the kneed him."

I saw Soda start to laugh at what I said I did but stopped himself cause he knew the situation was serious. Darry calmed down a bit, "Alright… look , I really think you should try to get a new job. I don't think working there around him is such a good idea."

I nodded. "Alright, I'll stop by after school and quit, I guess."

I didn't really wanna quit. If I didn't work there, my other choices were basically the Dingo and that's it. I mean, I guess I could try to get a job at that record store, but Andrew worked there. I mean, it seemed like he didn't remember that one time, but I didn't wanna take any chances. So my options were, one: stay and work with James, but Darry would probably go there and quit for me if I didn't. Two: Work at the Dingo where random guys would be staring at my chest and behind. Or three: the record store with Andrew the Soc.

It seems like whatever I choose, I'm screwed either way.

I didn't really eat breakfast. One reason: like I said, I couldn't bring myself to eat his green pancakes. They just grossed me out sometimes. The other reason, I just wasn't in the mood to eat. You know how there are people who when they're upset they eat more than usual? Well, I was the opposite. If I was upset about something, I didn't eat till I got over it. I could force myself to eat, but if I did, I usually would start to feel sick and then I'd be sitting there just really pissed off.

On the way to school, I didn't say much to Ponyboy. I didn't feel like talking. I was still just overwhelmed about the dance. I kinda felt guilty when I ran out cause I didn't tell Evie, Candy or Suzie. Then when I got back to the house, I ran to my room without saying a word to anyone and ignored them the rest of the night. And honestly, I regretted it.

"Ponyboy! Rain! Wait up!"

The two of us turned around and the three girls were running up to us. Candy tightly wrapped her arms around me so tight it was hard to breathe. "Can't… breathe…" I choked out. She let go of me then gave a nervous smile. Then she slapped my arm and her face quickly contorted to one of annoyance, "What happened last night? When we got back to the gym you had us worried sick! Then we called the house and they said that you locked yourself in your room and weren't letting anyone in."

I bit my lip, "Sorry. I'll tell you guys later what happened. Ok?"

They nodded and we got to the school just as the bell rang. Suzie and Ponyboy waved and walked off to their homeroom, Evie went to hers, and Candy and me started off to ours. "Sorry I snapped at you like that," she said as we walked. I waved it off, "It's cool. I deserved it. But I promise I'll tell you later." She nodded and we walked into the class.

The day went by quicker than I thought it would. I didn't see James all day, he was probably sleeping off a hangover. I was one-hundred percent fine with him not being there, that means I wouldn't have to see him when I went to work.

Work…

Darry wanted me to quit so I'd have one less thing involving James to deal with. I understood where he was coming from with that. I just hoped that Rusty would understand and believe whatever reason I came up with. I did kinda feel bad for quitting like I was, but I had too.

I got to the garage right after school, and just as I hoped, James wasn't there. Rusty came in form the garage. "Hey Rain," he smiled.

I gave a weak smile, "Hey Rusty… um, can I talk to you about something?"

"You're gonna quiet, ain't ya?"

"How'd ya know?..."

He laughed, "I've owned this garage for a long time, kid… you learn a thing or two over the years."

I looked down. "I'm sorry."

He blew it off. "It's fine… but, can I ask ya why?"

"Oh… it's cause with my school, and my legal guardian wanted me to focus on my school work rather than work, work."

"Oh yeah, you live with them Curtis boys, don't ya?"

I nodded hesitantly, "Uh, yeah… how'd you know that?"

"That court date to see if that one boy with the weird name would be able to stay with his brothers after him and that other kid ran off. It was all over the papers. So was your case since it involved that oldest boy, Darius?"

I chuckled, "Darrel… but we all call him Darry."

"Plus Two-Bit told me when he was telling me about ya once." He gave a smile.

I smiled back. "Well, I wish I could stay here but like I said, school and everything."

"It's cool, Rain. But if you ever need a job, just come back. The position is always yours if you want it again."

I smiled and nodded, then waved goodbye and left the garage. I gave him back my shirt, which he put in his office in case I did decide to go back. I really did want to keep working there but cause of James… stupid James… he ruined the first job I ever had. Honestly, I didn't wanna let that go without a fight, but unfortunately- I had to.

I walked back to the house, stuffing my hands into my pockets to avoid the chill. No Socs bothered me, but two people in colorful clothes came walking up to me. I gave an unsure look as they walked up to me. "Hey man, what's your name?" the one who was a girl with blonde hair and small braids all throughout asked me.

I wasn't going to tell her my name. I didn't know who she was. "Rose," I lied.

The man with her with small circular sunglasses spoke up, "Want some film?"

"Excuse me?"

"Film… ya know… _film_."

I realized what the two meant and realized who they were. I quickly shook my head, "No thanks, I'm… I'm fine."

I quickly walked off and left the two hippies there shrugging their shoulders. I got to the house, but not without looking behind me on the way back making sure the two didn't follow me. When I got inside, it felt so good to be inside with the warmth and the heat coming from the radiator. "Anyone home?" I called out, placing my hands in front of the radiator for minute. "We are!" I heard Marilyn call from the other room, and by we, I guessed her and Darry. I quickly went into the other room and smelled coffee. The two leaned against the counter with mugs filled with the smell. "Ok, so Darry tells me that he made you quit the garage," Marilyn said and sent him out of the room.

I nodded, "Yeah, but it was for a good reason."

"I understand, he told me what happened… anyway, you remember my cousin Sandy and her fiancé, right?"

"Yeah… why?"

"Ok, so the two of them are moving here to Tulsa. The place they bought in town is a building with a store downstairs and an apartment, where they're gonna live, upstairs. Long story short: Sandy's opening a book store and she left me in charge of hiring some people. Want a job?" she smiled.

I smiled and nodded. "I can have a job there?"

She nodded, "Of course! I figured you wouldn't want a job at the Dingo with how Evie and Candy talk about it and about the lovely uniforms," she laughed, "And I'll be working there with you too!"

I smiled and nodded again, "Yes I would love a job there, thank you so much, Marilyn." She smiled and nodded.

**Here's the new chapter :) to all wattpa people: sorry I took so long to update, I know it's been like forever since I've updated, but fanfiction. Net people can attest to this- I was trying to catch up with the website since I now have this on both websites! Ok, that's my only author's note :P hope you liked the chapter! =^-^=**

**To wattpad: peace from all the hippies of the world! -RambosDaughter**

**To fanfiction: bye! =^-^=**


	28. Chapter 28

About a week later, I started working my new job at the bookstore.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy working there. I'll admit, it was kinda slow sometimes, more people were leaning towards music and records shops… but there would always be people like Ponyboy.

Since it was in town, both Socs and Greasers came into the store. But for some reason, people were completely calm when they came into the bookstore. I get that they sold books and people sometimes read through them so maybe that's why, but everyone was just calm, cool and collected. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying. I never actually thought I would enjoy working in a place like that, considering all my life I grew up on the loud side, plus I grew up with a bunch of guys, and you're crazy if you think that was quiet. But I really did like working there, plus it gave me a chance to start getting to know Marilyn's cousin.

Sandra Olsson, soon-to-be Sandra Zuko. Since I had started talking with her, she would tell me stuff from when she was my age back around '58. She was from Australia and moved to California that year, where Marilyn lived. She met Danny when she went there for vacation over summer break and started school at Rydell High that year. They didn't know they'd end up going to the same school together for senior year. Long story short: they had a rollercoaster of a relationship that year, but after dating for five years, they got engaged. They wanted a slower-paced life than they had in California, so they moved to Tulsa since Marilyn said it was nice and that it was pretty calm.

The guys all had come to the store at least once, but unless they were Ponyboy, that's all they came. The girls were the same, considering Marilyn worked at the store. Cherry and Marcia came by a lot. Cherry had told me that her cousin Frances was visiting her for a little while, so she would bring her by the store, partly to meet me.

I was putting books on the shelves when I heard the bell above the door ring and people walking in. I turned and saw Cherry and another girl, who I'm guessing was her cousin. She had short, curly brown hair and when I heard her talk with Cherry, she sounded like she was up north. Cherry saw me and smiled, then walked over to me with the other girl following her. "Hey Rain," she smiled.

I smiled and met them half way, "Hey Cherry, is this your cousin that you told me about?"

She nodded. "Yeah, this is Frances," she turned the girl, "This is my friend Rain that I was telling you about."

The girl smiled, "You call just call me Baby, everyone else I know does."

I smiled back. "Nice to meet you, Baby. How long are you gonna be in Tulsa?"

"Probably a week or two. Cherry here is gonna come up to the Catskills though for my wedding soon."

I was kinda shocked when she said her weeding, this girl couldn't be much older than me. "I hope you don't mind that I'm asking, but how old are you?"

She chuckled a bit, "Nineteen, going on twenty this year."

"She met her fiancé when she was sixteen, actually where they're getting married. He's still there getting stuff ready and he still has work, while I help her with everything else and cause of my school, she came down here," Cherry smiled.

Baby looked at the clock on the wall. "Speaking of that, we gotta go… it was nice to meet you, Rain. Hopefully I'll see you again before I go back home?" she smiled.

I smiled back, "I hope so too."

The two waved goodbye and left the store.

Sandy came out from another part of the store and smiled at me, "Seems like you're doing well here." I smiled back as she went into the back office. Marilyn was fixing and arranging bookshelves in another part of the store. The bell on the door rang again and Sandy's fiancé walked in. He was actually not a bad guy, kinda reminded me of Dallas with something's and when the two of them told us what they were like when they were in high school. The two of us actually had become friends, even though he was in his twenties and I was still only seventeen. "Hey Rain," he smiled, "Where's Sandy?"

"She's in the back office," I answered and he nodded. I stopped him before he went to the office, "Danny, can I ask you about something?"

He nodded, "Yeah, sure. What's going on?"

"When you and Sandy were in high school, did you two have any problems?"

He laughed. "Unfortunately, yeah. Tons of 'em, actually. Why?"

"Well, did anything ever happen like… one of you was flirted with, or something of the sort, when the around wasn't around? And when the other found out, how did they react?"

"Kinda. During senior year, there was this dance. When National Bandstand came to prom at the school that year, I had taken Sandy as my date since we were technically together. Well, my ex was there and she wouldn't leave me alone. There was a dance competition cause the show was there and we all ended up switching partners somehow and I was dancing with me ex, except I didn't make the biggest effort to stop it."

"But you didn't want it to happen, right?"

He nodded, "Exactly. I felt horrible and Sandy was real upset… anyway, what's with all the questions about this? Is Sandy mad at me?"

I quickly shook my head. "I need some advice on something." He nodded and I sighed, "Marilyn and Sandy probably told you about what happened at the Valentine's Day Dance at my school, right?" He nodded again. "I have to tell my boyfriend, but I don't want him thinking I wanted it to happen."

He thought for a second. "How long have you and this guy been together?"

"A little over seven months."

"Have either of you given the other a reason not to trust each other?" I shook my head. "Then just tell him. Look, the two of 'em told me how he's outta the country on draft to Vietnam and that you two always write letters to each other. In your next letter, just tell him. He'll understand."

I gave a small smile. "Thanks, Danny."

He smiled back, nodded and went into the back to Sandy.

…_the next weekend…_

"C'mon, we need to hurry up! The wedding's starting soon!" Marilyn called from the other room.

"We're comin'! Calm yourself, she's not gonna be late!" Evie called back as her, Candy, Suzie and me ran down the hall to the back room.

Marilyn, Evie, Suzie, Candy and me were helping Sandy get ready for her wedding, which was in half an hour. Me, Candy, Suzie and Evie were going to be bridesmaid's while Marilyn would be the maid of honor. Sandy had old friends from high school coming to the wedding, though I'm kinda shocked she didn't have them as her bridesmaids, considering she knew them longer than us. She said their names were: Rizzo, Jan, Frenchy and Marty. Some pretty odd names if you asked me… though I shouldn't really be talking, considering my friends were named Two-Bit, Sodapop and Ponyboy.

Danny had friends from when they were in high school coming too. He had Darry as his best man. The two had become pretty good friends, probably through Marilyn and Sandy. Plus, Danny had gotten a job at the same place as Darry, so they probably saw each other a lot there too.

Danny was having Ponyboy, Sodapop and Steve as his men to walk the others, going along with Sandy's choices. I on the other hand, would be with someone I never met before and most likely, one of Danny's high school buddies. I already felt kinda uneasy about that, considering they were all in their twenties, while I was still in high school. And from what him and Sandy had told us about what them and their friends did in high school, it kinda left me nervous. Yes, they were Greasers when they were our age, but they can be different going by state sometimes, plus they were in high school about a decade ago, so things have changed.

…_that night…_

Kinda shockingly, the wedding went by without a hitch… no pun intended since some people refer to "getting married", as "getting hitched".

Just like I had guessed, to walk down the aisle before the bride, I was with one of Danny's old buddies. Said his name was Kenickie. I figured it was some sort of nickname or his last name, but like I said, I shouldn't be talking considering some of the names my friends had. Not that they're bad, but they're not very common.

"I still can't believe you caught the bouquet," Candy smiled at me, "You know what that means." She then sent a smirk my way.

I laughed and rolled my eyes, "Please… honestly, in my opinion, I think Darry and Marilyn would be the first of any of us to tie the knot."

"Speaking of relationships," Sodapop said walking into the house last, "I just checked the mail… Rain, you know anyone in Vietname?"

"Ha-ha, very funny," I said. He laughed and handed me a small box. I took the box and read the letter in it first:

"_Rain,_

_Happy Valentine's Day! I know I said this, but I really wish I could be there with you for Valentine's Day. I hope you had fun with Evie, Candy and Suzie. I bet Steve, Soda and Pony were glad when they found out they didn't have to go to that dance. Anyway, I'm sure you noticed I sent this in a tiny package instead of the usual envelope. Go in the box. There's a string bracelet in there. Over here, you never see any American civilians, you're lucky if you do. A buddy of mine here has a wife back where he lives in Arizona. She sent him about fifty different bracelets like that one for him to give to anyone here who had a girl waiting for them back at home. He gave me three: one for my mom, one for Keilah, and I got one for you. The one I got for you has little beads on it that to me, look like raindrops, so I thought of you since we all call you Rain. And it's blue, and I know that's your favorite color. Anyway, I hope you like it. I miss you, and I love you._

_Two-Bit"_

I took the bracelet out of the box and gave a weak smile when I saw it. It was five strings, all in different shades of blue and had five little blue beads that were shaped kinda like raindrops, just like his letter said. I quickly went to my room to get a paper and pen, and placed the bracelet on the table beside my bed. I wouldn't feel right wearing it if he got mad at me about what happened and I wouldn't wear it until he wrote back if he was or wasn't mad at me. I got a notebook form my school bag, placed the paper on it and sat on my bed to write a letter back:

"_Two-Bit,_

_I love the bracelet, it's beautiful. And you were right, the beads really do look like raindrops. Marilyn's cousin Sandy got married today. It actually went by pretty well. You know the tradition where afterwards, the bride throws her bouquet behind her and all the women at the wedding are supposed to try and catch it? Well, I caught it. Candy kept getting on my case that I would be the first of any of us to get married, but I don't believe in that superstition. Anyway, the dance was ok. I put the picture of the four of us like you asked so you could see what I looked like in a dress! Most of the night was fun, till a little before I left. Remember that guy I told you about who kept flirting with me? Well, he was there, and he was drunk. He grabbed my arm and, he kissed me. I tried to push him off of me, but he held my arm too tight. I used my free hand to slap him and when he pulled away, I kneed him and ran out of the school. Then I called the house and Steve and Soda brought me home. I just thought I should tell you, cause I'd feel pretty bad if I didn't, especially since you're still away. I hope you're not mad at me, at least be mad at the guy who did it. But if you are mad at me, just know I didn't want it happen and that I wish it never happened. Just tell me if you're mad at me or not so we can just get past this._

_Rain"_

I put the picture in the envelop along with the letter then went to post office, slower than usual, and still in what I wore to the wedding. Thankfully, I didn't like heels and wore flats since I walked and for some reason, this walk to the post office felt longer than usual.

**Hi there people who like fan fiction's by a freak like me! Ok, so I was talking with my two friends who I ask about this one and told them I had gotten two request for a fan fiction and asked if that was good and they said it was cause then that person likes my writing that they asked me out of however many writers there are on this website so that made me feel really good… anyway, I have a question for everyone who is reading this, whether you're on fanfiction. Net or on wattpad (cause now that I'm caught up, I'm updating these at the same time to save time):**

**How is everyone?**

**Are you good?**

**How's life?**

**I feel so selfish for always saying what's going on in my life, so I just hope everyone who sees this is doing good! :) **

**By the way, what do you guys think about the thing I did with Grease? I realized it would technically count as a crossover, but I'm not changing it cause they're not major characters really in this. And what did you think that I made Cherry related to Baby (if you couldn't figure it out, from Dirty Dancing)? I would've included Johnny Castle with it since he's obviously major in Dirty Dancing, but I'm kinda just thinking about both movies right now and Swayze was in both so that'd be kinda weird if you ask me… anyway!**

**(for wattpad) peace from all the hippies of the world! =^-^= -RambosDaughter**

**(for fanfiction) hope you liked this! =^-^=**


	29. Chapter 29

"_Rain, my mom wants to talk to you," Soda said and tapped my shoulder, "I bet you're in trouble cause she wants to talk to you in her and my dad's room." He smirked a bit at his observation that was also a joke. I stuck my tongue out at him then went to Mr. and Mrs. Curtis' room. I knocked on the door, opened it a bit and poked my head in, "You wanted to talk to me, Soda said?" _

_She smiled, nodded and patted the spot next to her on the edge of the bed for me to sit, "Come sit with me, Rain."_

_I hesitantly did as she asked. "Did I do something?"_

_Her smile changed but only into a motherly smile. "No, Rain. I just wanna talk."_

_I laughed, "Now I can rub that in Soda's face."_

_She knew that me and him were closer than the rest since I met him first when we were younger we were more like brother and sister than the rest and she laughed. "Anyway, now that you're fifteen I thought I'd tell you what my mother told me when I was your age about relationships. Now before you get nervous, this is not '_the talk'_ that nearly everyone dreads," she laughed, "I thought I'd tell you since you're like the daughter I never had… first of all, I think you can handle any boy personally, since you've dealt with these boys almost ten years now."_

_I laughed, "I don't know how, but somehow I survived."_

_She laughed again and nodded, "But anyway, there's a big difference between liking someone and loving someone. But love is what comes after like, but not all the time."_

_I gave a confused expression, "I don't get what you mean."_

"_Well, here's an example. Me and Mr. Curtis. We love each other, but when we first met, we only like each other. But we liked each other as more than friends."_

"_Well then when did you two know you loved each other?"_

"_For us it took about a year, but it takes different amounts of time for other people. It can take a longer time, or a shorter time, or even not at all for some couples."_

"_Ok, so when I get a boyfriend in the future, how will I know when I love him?"_

_She gave a soft smile, "Believe it or not, you'll just know. But not with your head, with your heart. And usually, when the guy feels the same way, that's when he'll propose to you, depending on how old you two are. Sometimes though, you'll think you love someone, but deep down, you really don't. Don't marry someone you're not absolutely sure that you love… speaking of that, wait here a second." She got up off the bed then went over to her closet. She pulled a large white box out from the bottom of the closet, brought it back to the bed, placed it down then took off the lid. When she did that, it revealed a white, puffy material. "This was my wedding dress when I married Mr. Curtis. When you're getting married in the future, if you like the dress, I want you to have it," she smiled and pulled the dress out of the box, holding it in front of her._

_I stood up and admired the dress. It was a simple white, wedding dress with a bit of puffy material that started at the waist and ended to the bottom. It wasn't flashy, but it wasn't plain. "It's beautiful."_

"_Also in the future, I know my husband isn't you father, but since he considers you his daughter, when you reach that point in your life, he wants to be the one to hand you over to the man you're marrying. But if he's not around when that happens, Darry will take his place since he's the oldest. Or if I'm not around when that time happens, the boys will know where the dress is and they'll give it to you."_

_I smiled at her, "Thank you, Mrs. Curtis."_

_She smiled back, placed the dress on the bed, and pulled me into a hug, "Anything for you, sweetheart."_

My eyes opened and I just laid in the dark staring at the ceiling till I realized the whole thing was a dream of what already happened two years earlier.

I couldn't fall back asleep and I looked at the clock… 4:35am… I got out of bed and to the dining room and sat down at the table. I couldn't fall back asleep. I had heard about people who reacted to death late by a few days or a week or something, but never a year and a half later. I mean even at they're funeral, of course all three brothers were devastated, but even the rest of the guys cried. I even saw Dallas with tears in his eyes, but he refused to let them roll down his cheeks. I had cried too, but I don't think it full registered in my mind what had actually happened. Now, I finally realized that they weren't there and never would be again. All the things I had talked about with Mrs. Curtis about the future, that's all the motherly advice I would ever have from her. Or all the things Mr. Curtis did to help me since he always said that since he didn't have a daughter of his own, he'd treat me like I was his only daughter. All the things I planned with the two of them, would never happen and I couldn't believe it took me this long to realize and accept it.

I sat at the kitchen table curious about the time, with my head rested in my hands. I heard the front door open and my head popped up to see who was there and what I saw was Steve sitting down on the couch. "Not to sound rude," I started, making him jump, "But why're you here so late?"

He shrugged, got up and joined me at the table, "You know how my ol' man can be… question is, what're _you _doing up so late?"

I sighed and rubbed my hands over my face. "I had a dream of something that happened nearly two years ago and I couldn't fall back asleep."

"What was it?"

I gave a confused look. "Ok, not to sound like a jerk, but since when did you start caring about _my_ problems?"

He shrugged a bit. "Since Two-Bit left for Vietnam… besides, if you stay at this table all night, you'll get bombarded with questions from Superman about why and what happened when he's up. SO it's either me or him. Take your pick."

"What about Marilyn, Suzie, Candy, Evie, Soda or Pony?"

He thought for a moment. "Well, Marilyn'll tell Darry so you'll get him that way. If you tell Soda, you'll get the same reaction as Darry, same thing if you tell Candy cause she'll tell Soda. Pony and Suzie it's the same deal, cause he'll tell his brothers. And if ya tell Evie, it'll get back to me anyway and then she'll tell the other girls and then we'll be back where we started. So I'm your best bet."

I couldn't help but laugh at his answer. "Fine, then I choose you."

He smirked a bit in victory. "Now spill."

I sighed again, "The dream I had was a conversation I had with Mrs. Curtis a few years back."

His face fell a bit at my answer. "What about?"

"Girl stuff that you can't know… anyway, do you remember their funeral?" My voice got quieter when I asked.

He nodded a bit. "Sometimes I wish I could forget."

I nodded. "Me too… when we were all there, I don't think I actually was able to get and understand what had actually happened, like my brain wouldn't let me. And I think cause of that dream, it just hit me with some of the things that she said that day. But, like, I was in some weird denial thing for a year and a half or something."

"You sure?"

I nodded and looked down. "Yeah… I mean, I know we all dealt with that and we were all devastated when it happened, but I just-"

"You miss them cause they were basically your parents cause your parents were complete assholes," he cut me off and finished. I looked up and when I did, his gaze was fixed on the ground. He continued, "Rain, I know how you feel. Your parents, no offense or nothin', but they were assholes and you know that. I get how that feels. My mom left when I was five, and my ol' man might as well get an award for asshole of the year…"

"Steve…" I tried to stop him but he continued.

"Look I know it's hard, but I promise ya it does get easier. Just takes a little while, ya know?"

I nodded and realized that he was helping me. I chuckled, "I think you're getting' soft on me, Randle."

He laughed, "Maybe just with you cause you've been through hell for a while."

I sucked on my teeth in a teasing way. "Geez and you were doing so well with sympathy till you said that."

"Shut up." He looked like he was trying to be serious but I could tell he was trying not to laugh at the same time. "I just didn't want ya to get interrogated like you were in the cooler or something cause you know Superman'll do that."

"Ya know, he doesn't like being called that."

He shrugged, "Hasn't done anything 'bout it yet to stop me."

**Hiiiiiiii…. This chapter was really just to foreshadow something I'm doing in the story soon at the end- speaking of that, I'm almost done with this story I think. But, I'm working on a sequel that can also be a prequel that (if you're reading this on wattpad, I've mentioned her before) shanny02 suggested I do… it'll be posted both on fanfiction. net and wattpad where it's what life was like a little after Mr and Mrs Curtis died and it leads all the way to where this story began… so if you plan on reading it when this one is done, you don't have to, but I'm gonna call it "Before the Love" and will be posted probably the day after this one is done so I can make the cover and type it. This story though, will probably have about, five chapters left, which includes two what I'm gonna call "bonus chapters" cause, well you'll be able to tell what the end of the story is- then the one after that is what's gonna be the product of the last chapter, then the FINAL one of this story is just what happens to all the characters…. So yeah… but like I said, if you're now planning to read my sequel/prequel (they can be read in whatever order) I will say when it is gonna start when I start it… anyway!**

**Oh! By the way, there will be no posting tomorrow for this story or "Cherry Flavored Soda" cause as of now, me and my two closest friends are having a movie day at my house- our first since they read the outsiders cause we all wanted to watch it together so we'll be watching that, followed by an 80s day which will include (as far as we know) The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Rhinestone (if you like Sylvester Stallone or Dolly Parton, you'll know that movie- it's hard to find cause they didn't like how it turned out)**

**NOW ANYWAY!**

**(wattpad) peace from all the hippies of the world! =^-^= -RambosDaughter (aka: Sarah Fusaro)**

**(fanfiction) bye! =^-^= -sarahfusaro**


	30. Chapter 30

After the talk I had with Steve, I did feel a little better. Enough that I was able to fall asleep… except at the table before I got the chance to go back to my room.

"… Rain?... Rain, wake up," I heard someone say as they shook me awake gently by my shoulder. My eyes adjusted and saw Darry with an expression of both confusion and worry. "Rain, why are you asleep at the table?"

I sat up and stretched a bit, "I woke up last night, couldn't fall back asleep, came here then fell asleep back right here, I guess… what time is it?"

He looked at the clock. "7:53 in the morning. But it's Saturday, so if you wanna sleep in, you can. If you do, I suggest in your bed instead of the table," he gave a light chuckle.

I chuckled, "I think I'll stay up, I got work later. Plus, you already got me up and awake."

"Oh, so it's my fault?" he asked in a fake hurt tone.

I stood up and went to my room to get dressed. "Maybe…" I called back.

I could hear him laugh form the other room. I went to my closet and got out a black pullover, blue jeans, button up shirt with the sleeves cut and black boots. I went to my bedside table and put on my leather cuff bracelet and gold locket, and looked at the blue string bracelet nervously. I shook it off and left it there, remembering what I had previously decided- not to wear it till I got his letter back that said if he wasn't or was mad at me. I combed out my hair and braided it, which I had been doing nearly every day considering it was an easy way to keep my hair out of my face since it was now really long, nearly to the edge of my back. In a braid, it was out of my face and out of my way.

I went back out and now saw Steve up and around from the last position where I saw him asleep on the couch. _"I hope he doesn't mention why I couldn't sleep last night," _I thought. I decided to just leave it and wait to see what happens, if any of them decided to bring it up. Even if he didn't tell Darry, he'd probably tell Sodapop, and for two reasons. One: he knew Sodapop and me were more of a brother/sister relationship than friends, and as far as I knew, brothers were protective of their sisters. Two: they were best friends, and best friends tell each other almost everything, at least we all mostly did, with the exception of a few things. Three: Soda would probably ask him why I was asleep in the kitchen.

I looked at the clock… 8:15am… we all had to be at work by 8:45 since everything started at nine in the morning, even though it's a Saturday.

I kinda felt bad for Ponyboy. He couldn't get a job yet cause he was only fourteen. Sure, he was turning fifteen, but still, it meant nothing. He had once told me that he wanted to get a job to help his brothers out, but there were two things prohibiting him. One: He wasn't old enough to get a job, like I said. Two: even if he was old enough, Darry wanted him to focus on his schoolwork. The kid was smart, we all had a pretty good thought that he would end up getting some sort of scholarship for college cause of his good grades, or if not for that, for his track record.

Sodapop came out from the back of the house, all dressed and ready for the day. Ponyboy went to the bathroom and a minute later I could hear the shower running. Steve headed toward the front door and Soda tapped my shoulder, "We should probably be heading out since me and Steve are droppin' you off at work today." I nodded and we walked out, Darry saying that he would wait to leave till Pony got out the shower.

Marilyn got to the bookstore exactly when I did. The two boys waved goodbye and drove in the direction of the DX. "Hear anything from Two-Bit yet about what happened at the dance?" she asked as she unlocked the door.

I followed her in, shook my head and sighed, "No response yet… what if he doesn't trust me anymore?"

"Rain, calm down. Just cause you have no response yet doesn't mean anything. Ya know, life's not easy over there, he probably just hasn't had time to write back yet, that's all."

"It always takes a week after I send a letter to get his response… I sent my last one a little over a week ago and I'm starting to get worried."

"Well what exactly are you worried about?"

I leaned on the store counter. "Two reasons, Marilyn. One: the whole thing with James. Two: he's in Vietnam. Out of all the places in the world, he had to get sent there! I mean, why there? Why him?"

"Rain, things happen and people are separated and put in certain situations for reasons we can't understand. We don't know why most of the time, but we just have to accept it and continue on with our lives."

"Well I hate it."

She laughed, "No one said you had to like it."

…_end of the day…_

I had been worried the rest of the day. I don't know why… well, that's a lie. I did know why I was worried, I just didn't know why it felt the need to stay in my head all day long.

I'm starting to think I'm losing my marbles.

I don't think it went unnoticed that I was acting different lately. Everyone had been asking if I was alright, more than usual lately, at least. I felt kinda bad about that. What if I was worrying them all too much? I mean, the fact that my boyfriend- who was friends with everyone else- was worrysome enough. I probably wasn't making it any easier with my worry.

And I wasn't sure of anything anymore. My grades in school had gone down a bit. I was more jumpy, even when I was on our side of town. I couldn't focus on things as much anymore, and when I could, it wasn't for a very long period of time. It was weird and I didn't like it. Thankfully, March had just started and that meant four months left of school till the last day in June. Actually, did that really make a difference, though?

Marilyn and I drove back to the house and, with the exception of Ponyboy, nobody was back yet. I decided to check the mail; whoever was home first would always do that. I looked through the envelopes in my hands and saw nearly everything addressed to Darry- except for one with my name on it. I ran inside to place the rest down then opened the envelope:

"_Rain,_

_Calm down, I'm not mad at you. It wasn't your fault, it's that son of a bitch's fault. Trust me, if I could, I'd come back home right now and strangle the guy for what he did. I might just do that when I get back. But look, I'm not mad at you. I know it wasn't your fault, he was drunk- that doesn't make it any better for him, but you get my point. Anyway, you look really beautiful in that dress, Rain… hold on, knowing you, you're probably still worrying if I'm mad or not. Rain, I'm NOT mad (at you at least, James, that's another story). I promise you though, I'm not mad at you. Stop worrying, alright? Promise me you'll stop worrying that I'm mad. I actually think it's pretty impressive how you got rid of him, pretty tuff if you ask me. And besides, I'm pretty sure that those guys back home are gonna beat him to a pulp the first chance they get. But just so I'm clear, I'm not mad. Alright? I bet you're laughing right now at how many times I said that so you'd believe me. Anyway, whether you believe me or not, I love you and I miss you._

_Two-Bit"_

He was right, I sat there laughing at how correct he was. I quickly got a paper and pen:

"_Two-Bit,_

_Ok, ok, I got it and you're right, by the end of the letter I was laughing. There're two ways that it makes you creepy though. One: you wrote this about a week ago so the fact you knew that would happen. Two: you can't even see me and you know what I'm doing. But anyway, I'm glad you ain't mad at me. Ever since I sent the last letter, I've been worried sick about what you would say about it. I mean, I'm worried anyway about you, but I was more worried that you'd be mad at me. I worry too much, don't I? I bet you're laughing now at what I'm saying. Anyway, you I have no idea how happy I am that you said that. I love you, and miss you too._

_-Rain"_

I quickly closed the envelope and ran to my room to get my jacket. Before I ran out the room , I ran to the bedside table and grabbed the blue bracelet I had gotten from Vietnam in the previous letter, then tied it around my wrist. When I finished tying it, I ran out the house. "Got your response?" Marilyn called and stopped me on the sidewalk. I turned for a quick second, smiled and nodded, then continued on to the post office.

**Awwww how cute… anyway, this story is almost over… the chapters may get a little shorter, but hopefully not by much, so yeah, that's all I have to say for once…**

**To wattpad: peace from all the hippies of the world! =^-^= -Rambosdaughter**

**To fanfiction. net: bye! Hope you liked the story! -sarahfusaro**


	31. Chapter 31

…_September 1, 1967; first day of school…_

"I can't believe it, I'm actually a senior in high school!" Evie beamed as we walked to the school.

"And I can't believe that you convinced Soda to come back to high school," I said to Candy, who smiled proudly at her boyfriend.

Candy had somehow convinced Sodapop to come back to high school. He would still have his job at the DX, just an after school shift and on Saturday's like regular. Steve had left school not long after Soda, and since he was going back, Steve decided to go back too. He said- and I quote- "If he's goin' back, who am I supposed to be stuck at work with? Hell, I'm gonna go back too." Which made Evie happy for her boyfriend. Both Steve and Soda- if they never left- would be senior's with Evie, but since they left they would start the first semester in junior classes with me and Candy. But if they had good enough grades and such by the beginning of the second semester, they would be switched to the senior classes along with Evie.

A few of us had birthdays over the summer. Steve turned eighteen, Ponyboy turned fifteen, Suzie turned sixteen, Marilyn turned twenty-two, and Two-Bit… who was still away… turned nineteen.

Sodapop laughed a bit, "If I knew how she did it myself, I would tell you."

Candy smiled at him. "Well I'm proud of you for it. Plus, now we'll have the same classes- at least for the first semester."

"But you won't be with me," Evie frowned at Steve.

He wrapped his arm around her and kisses her cheek, "Then I'll try to do good enough to get into your classes."

She gave him a teasing smile. "Then you're first lesson: in that sentence, it would've been well instead of good."

"Y'all should've seen Darry when they told him they were g=coming back to school," I laughed.

Ponyboy laughed too, "Soda looked like he was gonna explode when Darry hugged him."

Soda draped his arm over his little brother's shoulders, "Well, now I get to spend more time with my baby brother." He attempted to pat Ponyboy on the head but failed when Pony pulled away before he got the chance, making Suzie laugh, which made Pony's cheeks turn pink and he let out an embarrassed chuckle at his girlfriend.

At school, our lockers were all pretty close together, but we were kinda separated by grade. Evie was at the end of the hall. Steve, Soda, Candy and me were all pretty close together. On the other side of the hall was Ponyboy and Suzie. Part of the reason though that we weren't so far apart was cause the school all knew that we all lived close to each other; and by that, I mean they all knew we were Greasers from the East side of town. The principal tried to hide that as the reason, but everyone in the school knew that's how lockers were divided. I mean, the irony that nearly every Greaser was on one side of the school for lockers and the other had almost all Socs lockers? If you ask me, it's pretty screwy, but it wasn't a complete bad thing. Sure, all Greasers didn't get along, but Greasers got better with other Greasers than they did with Socs… connecting the dots, here?

…_end of the day…_

The day, shockingly, didn't go by completely slowly. Maybe cause there were more people I knew in my homeroom and classes I knew this year than any other first day, so that could be it, I guess. I don't know, but it didn't go as slow as the first day always went.

We all had taken the day off after school whatever our shifts were. We decided to just hang out after school was over to celebrate that we all survived another first day of school. We went around the entire town, even pretty close to Soc territory. I odn't really know exactly _why_ we did that, but somehow, we were able to get away from there without a scratch. I don't know how that happened, but I wasn't complaining.

We got back to the house a little late; a little before nine, I think. Marilyn was at the house with Darry, and so were Danny and Sandy. They had been coming to the house a lot lately, or Darry and Marilyn went over to their place. Which was understandable. They were all about the same age, which was probably preferred than hanging out with bunch of teenagers. I mean, think about it. Danny and Sandy graduated in '58 or '59, Darry and Marilyn graduated in '62 or '63, so the years weren't too far apart. The rest of us on the other hand, were graduating starting from '68 to about '70, and that was just high school.

"Rain," Darry stopped me before me, Suzie, Evie and Candy went into my room. I turned and he handed me an envelope, "From Vietnam." I smiled, took the letter, then turned back to go to my room. The other three started to talk while I opened the envelope:

"_Rain,_

_First- don't respond to this letter. Now before you panic why I said that, let me explain… ok. I'm being transferred. Now, I don't know exactly where yet, but even if I did, I'm not allowed to say. And because I wouldn't be allowed to say, that means I can't write nay letters back home, at least not till my Sargent says so. And I know your birthday is in three weeks, but because of the transfer, I'll say it now: Happy Birthday Rain! I wish I was there to celebrate with you!... look, I would write to you if I could, but like I said, the transfer and cause letters need return addresses, I can't send anything. It's gonna kill me not writing to you or getting a response back from you, I swear. Make sure you have your locket from Christmas last year; I have those pictures in the locket with me always in my pocket. Until I write to you again, I miss you and I love you. Don't forget that._

_Two-Bit"_

I could feel tears start to form in my eyes…he was gonna be who-knows-where and we couldn't even write now? How could I know if he was ok? When he was coming home? What was going on?

"Rain?" I heard someone say and bring me out of my thoughts. I looked at the three. "What was in the letter that he said this time?" Evie asked.

I glanced down at the paper in my hand, blinked my eyes and played with the heart locket on the chain around my neck with my fingers. "Um…"

"Something happened," Candy said, "You're playing with your necklace, and you only do that when you're upset or nervous. What happened?"

I glanced down at the letter again the handed it to her. I tried to say what he wrote, but my throat wouldn't let any words come out. Candy took the letter, Evie and Suzie leaned over her shoulders to see what was written on the paper. They finished reading it and looked up at me with sad eyes. Candy handed me back the letter, "Rain…"

I wiped my eyes with my hands, stood up from the bed and put the letter in my pocket. I walked out of the room, knowing the three followed me out, but I continued to the front door. "Rain? Where're you-" Darry started but someone must've stopped him and I walked out of the house.

I was kinda windy cause it was the end of summer and fall was starting in a few weeks, but it wasn't cold. No one was out, not that I could see anyway. There was only person I could think of who would know exactly how I was feeling and that I could talk to, and I hoped she was home and not asleep just yet the entire walk there.

I walked up to the house and knocked on the door. I heard footsteps then the door opened. "Raina, what a surprise, come on in," Mrs. Mathews smiled and pulled me inside, "What brings you here so late at night?"

"Um… is Keilah here?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No, she's at a friend's house. Sorry."

"Oh, no it's fine. I was curious cause I wanted to talk to you about something important"

She nodded and we went over to the table. "What's going on?" she asked as we sat down.

I took the letter out of my pocket and held it in my hand under the table. "Did you get a letter form T-… your son?"

"Just today, yeah… I'm guessing you did too?" I nodded. "So you know about the transfer?" Her voice got quieter than before.

I nodded. "Unfortunately, yeah…"

"Do you have the letter with you?" I unfolded the letter and handed it to her. She read the letter and handed it back to me. She placed her hand on my arm and looked up at me, "Oh, Raina… I get how you're feeling. I'm gonna miss his letters too and get how worried you are."

"I know… I just… I was kinda hoping that he'd be back here on my birthday, ya know?"

She gave a comforting smile, "I know, Raina… But I can promise you one thing."

"What's that?..."

"Wherever he gets sent, he's gonna be fine. I can promise you that."

"How do you know?"

She smiled again. "Women's intuition."

**Oh my gosh three chapters left- well, technically one, cause the other two are kinda "bonus chapters" as I'm gonna call them. The two last ones are just things that happen in the future- one will be in Rain's point of view (POV) like the rest of the story, while the other will be a third person point of view ( I know no abbreviation for that) so yeah! Kinda excited cause this will be my first completed outsiders fan fic, and first fan fic completed on fanfiction. net (I've already completed three expendables fan fics on wattpad) but also kinda sad, cause it's over- but then kinda relieved cause then I don't have to worry about updates and such (at least for this one)**

**But I already have stuff to replace it so then there's another worry right there**

**Whatever! Anyway! I hope you like this story and have enjoyed this story so far, next chapter will be cute and kinda comedic, especially with the beginning what I have Sodapop and Ponyboy do to Rain… cue evil grin and laugh like the Tattle-Tale Strangler (if you don't know who the Tattle-Tale Strangler is, you had no childhood and I feel bad for you- especially since the voice of him was Biff Tannen from the Back to the Future series… he was believe it or not, look up Thomas F. Wilson on imdb if you don't believe me)**

**ANYWAY!**

**To wattpad: peace from all the hippies of the world! =^-^= -RambosDaughter (aka: Sarah Fusaro)**

**To fanfiction: hope you like this! Bye! =^-^= -sarahfusaro**


	32. Chapter 32

**Ok so I was doing the math and Rain is turning 18 cause when I started the story she was 16, but I accidently put the year 1950 as her birth year when it would actually be 1949 considering her age throughout this story… I apologize and- for those on wattpad- have edited the intro chapter and- for those on fanfiction- have edited the story summary… again, I apologize, and that's how you know I'm bad at math, that I can't do simple arithmetic like that. Anyway- last chapter! (not including my bonus chapters)**

"Happy Birthday, Rain!" someone called and woke me up.

I shot up in my bed and screamed. I heard a few different laughs form the hallway. I grabbed the pillow on my bed and threw it in the direction of the hallway but saw two figures run and dodge the flying pillow, laughing their heads off and the pillow landed on the floor.

I looked at the clock… 7:03am… I got up from the bed and went to the hallway to get my pillow. When I got to the hallway, cups of water dumped on me. My jaw dropped and my eyes closed. I opened my eyes, turned around and saw Sodapop and Ponyboy grinning innocently and walking backwards slowly. I shook my head and smirked a bit, "You two are so dead." I started running toward them and they turned and ran in the other direction. It was all in good fun, they could tell I wasn't fully mad, but I was going to get them back somehow and sometime in the near future.

"Darry, help us!" Ponyboy laughed as I chased them to the living room.

Darry came in from the next room and laughed at the scene in front of him, "What did you two do to her?"

"Just a little birthday prank," Pony laughed.

"_Little prank?_" I asked. I turned to him and tried be serious, but I was holding back laughter. "You two dumped cups of water on me!"

"It was just four cups," Soda shrugged.

I shook my head and laughed, "I'll get you two back somehow. So watch your backs."

I turned back to my room and grabbed a towel on my way there. Thankfully, they didn't get my hair too wet so that made drying myself off a little easier. I changed into blue jeans, gray undershirt, blue button up with the sleeves cut off, black converse, a white sweater, leather cuff, gold locket and blue string bracelet. Like usual, I combed my hair and braided it to the side over my right shoulder.

I glanced again at the clock… 7:50am… everyone else would be coming soon like they did every morning so we could all walk to school. I went back out where the three brothers were and sat down at the table with them for breakfast. "You're not planning on getting us back just yet, right?" Sodapop asked, obviously holding back laughter.

I smirked a bit. "We'll see… that's for me to know and you two to find out."

"Maybe I can help you get them back," Darry laughed.

Ponyboy gave a shocked expression at his oldest brother, not used to his playful nature, "Darry?!"

Evie, Steve, Candy and Marilyn came walking into the house all saying their good morning's. Suzie and her family had gone out of state. Her brother was stationed now in a base in Georgia and his commanding officer had given him a chance to visit his family if they were willing to go out to Georgia. It took Suzie and her family a week to plan it after he wrote to them about it, and they would be there for about two weeks, three tops.

"Happy Birthday, Rain!" Candy smiled and hugged my shoulders.

I laughed and hugged her back as best as I could, "Thanks, Candy… you're the first person to wish me happy birthday without an unwanted surprise."

She gave a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you later," I answered trying not to laugh, but failed miserably.

…_after school…_

Soda and Steve went to their shift at the DX, Evie and Candy went to theirs at the Dingo, and Ponyboy decided to come with me- hesitantly since I hadn't gotten him and Soda back yet- to my shift at the bookstore. When we got there, Marilyn was already there with Sandy. "Hey you two," she smiled.

He smiled at the two then went off to look through the store and I went behind the counter where Sandy was. "So did the rest of them plan anything for you today?" Marilyn asked and leaned on the other side of the counter.

I chuckled, "I think you would know more than me."

"I was talking with Darry the other day and he said that whenever one of you turns eighteen, that you all do something really special for them," Sandy shrugged.

That was true. It was sort of a tradition. The first of any of us was at most five years ago when Darry turned eighteen. It was still just the eight of us at the time before Evie, Candy and Suzie started hanging out with us and when Dallas and Johnny were still alive. Mr and Mrs Curtis had started the tradition, mostly because he was their oldest son. But we all agreed that we should do a special something or party for that person when they turned eighteen since they were then officially an adult. His special thing was that he got his truck that year. We did special things also when Two-Bit, Steve, Soda and Evie turned eighteen- and we would all the way till Ponyboy turned eighteen.

I shrugged, "Well, if that's the plan, I've been told nothing."

…_two hours later…_

We all got back to the house around 5:30. Evie and Candy got there last and when they did, they looked like they were ready for some party or something. "Alright, Rain- go get changed," Evie commanded.

The rest of us exchanged confused looks. "Changed for what?" I asked and stood up from the couch.

Candy rolled her eyes and chuckled a bit, "We're taking you out to this new place that opened in Oklahoma City. It's a restaurant and a dance place."

"A dance club?" They both nodded. "Ok, I appreciate but one: I can't dance. Two: what about everyone else?"

"Well, whoever wants to come can if they want to," Evie shrugged.

I gave everyone else in the room a pleading look and- with the exception of Marilyn and Darry- they all nodded their heads. "We're too old for those dance clubs," Darry laughed, "Besides, there's something important the two of us have to take care of… it's in Oklahoma City so be back by eleven. That's enough time for you guys to get there- which takes an hour and a half, and then later on come back with enough time for you all to do whatever."

We all nodded and went off to go change. Evie, Candy and Marilyn all followed me to my room to help me choose what I should wear, mostly cause I didn't know how to dress for one of those places. I changed into blue jeans with a waist that was higher than most that I wore and the bottoms were a little wider than the usually were, a shirt that Candy lent me that was black and had no sleeves and was short- but thanks to the pants, nothing showed, which I was perfectly happy with- and black boots. I put on the gold locket, leather cuff and blue string bracelet. Evie tried to straighten my hair, but after arguing with her about it for about five or ten minutes, we agreed that she would do nothing to it as long as I left it out.

We all got there about 7:30. We had taken Steve's car, which, shockingly got us to Oklahoma City without a problem or breakdown. We took his car for a few reasons though. One: his car had pretty good mileage on it. Two: we couldn't take Darry's truck since him and Marilyn needed it. Three: it fit all six of us without a problem.

When we got there, I could hear the Bee Gees playing from outside. There were other people who looked our age outside, most of them holding beer bottles in their hands, and the others had colorful clothes that we would always see those weird hippies wearing nowadays. Steve parked and we got out the car and went inside. The place was packed. There were blinking colorful lights, loud music, and people drinking. It reminded me of the one time I had gone to Buck Merrill's place. "Remind me why y'all chose this place?" Soda asked Candy and Evie. Candy shrugged at her boyfriend and Evie ignored his question and went over to Steve. If you asked me, they both probably had no clue why they chose it.

…_three hours later…_

"That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," I admitted to the two other girls.

"I agree with Rain… but let's never go back," Steve said.

"Agreed," the rest of us said at the same time.

We got back to the house about 10:45. The club was actually alright- with the exception of a few things. The six of us basically stayed together the whole time. There were hippies throughout half the place, and almost every hippie that was there was did some sort of drug at one point while they were there. The other half of the people there were either drunk or one drink away from drunk. Then there were some people who were dancing where they might as well have been in the backseat of a car or in a bed. _Not_ a dance floor of any type. Or even in public.

When we got back, I changed out of what I wore into gray sweatpants and a Rolling Stones t-shirt. By the time I got back to the living room, everyone stood up, blocking the door and windows. I gave a confused look, "What's going on?"

"Your birthday isn't quite over, and we have one last surprise for you," Marilyn smiled, "Go outside and you'll see."

Everyone moved so I could get out the door and I did as I was told. I went to the porch and turned on the light, but nothing happened. "Just wait," someone said from the doorway. I walked down the steps and a figure came in through the gate. I gave another confused look till the figure's clothes and face was shown by the porch light. I covered my mouth with my hand, "Oh my gosh…"

"Happy Birthday, Rain," Two-Bit smiled.

I know this'll sound cliché, but cliché's are based off of real life events.

I bit my lip and ran to him, wrapping my arms around his neck and burying my head in his neck, "I missed you so much…"

He wrapped his arms tightly around me. "I missed you too… and now that I'm back, I can do this." He let go of me and set me down on the ground, then dug around his military uniform pocket and took out a little blue box. He held the box in front of me, "Raina Johnson… will you make me the luckiest guy in the world… and marry me?" He opened the little blue box, which exposed an engagement ring.

I let out a slight chuckle and covered my mouth with my hand. I tried to answer but my answer was caught in the middle of my throat. "Yes," I choked out, smiled and nodded. He slid the ring out of the box and onto my left ring finger. I smiled and bit my lip again. He cupped my chin and pressed his lips against mine, I wrapped my arms around his neck.

I thought I saw a few flashes from the corner of my eye throughout the entire thing, no doubt about it, but chose to ignore it this time. He pulled away and looked at me, "There is something I have to admit to you though."

"What is it?"

"Ya know how in my last letter, I wrote that I was being transferred and couldn't write to you for a while cause I couldn't say where I was?" I nodded. "Well, I lied… but only cause I was planning this."

"You've been planning this for nearly a month?" I chuckled.

He chuckled and nodded, "A little longer than that, actually, but yeah. I have." I laughed again and smiled. He smiled back, "I love you, Raina Johnson."

I smiled and pressed my lips against his then pulled back, "I love you, Keith Mathews."

**No need for a real author's note…**

**Well, maybe a little one.**

**How many of you were expecting that? :) **

**So there's gonna be two more chapters, which- like I've said- are "bonus chapters", so look out for those… but otherwise this story is complete :)**


	33. Bonus Chapter! 1

…_two years later; August 30, 1969….._

I followed Darry, Sodapop and Ponyboy to their truck outside. There was a white, square box sitting on the back seat of the car. Darry opened the door, took the box out and handed it to me. I hesitated taking it from him, "Are you sure I should use the dress?"

He nodded, "She wanted you to, remember? If you wanted to, at least."

I looked at Ponyboy and Sodapop and they nodded. I smiled a bit and nodded, remembering the conversation I had with their mom when I was fifteen, "Alright. Yes, I'll wear it."

The three smiled and I took the box as we all walked back inside the small town church.

My heart was racing. That was expected, right? I mean, I was getting married. Girls always got nervous when they got married, but did most girls get married when they were nineteen? I mean, I wanted to marry Two-Bit, obviously cause I said yes, but growing up I never expected it would be when I was so young. I wasn't complaining, I was just kinda overwhelmed and nervous.

Marilyn, Evie, Candy and Cherry all waited for me in the back room. They were all changed into their brides maid's dresses, Candy's a little different since she was the maid of honor. The other four had light blue dresses, Candy's was dark blue. All their dresses were the exact same color.

I took the dress out of the box slowly and put it on. I then put on a robe so while the others did my hair, nothing would get on it and ruin it. My hair was long so they planned on doing some sort of side bun or something. Cherry knew how to do hair and makeup since she was a student in some cosmetology school. Plus she had done her cousin Baby's hair and makeup for her wedding back in '67.

…_five minutes before the wedding….._

"Rain, you look so beautiful," Marilyn hugged me. I gave a weak smile and hugged her back. My stomach was full of butterflies. The five of us walked out to the back of the church right before the sanctuary. The order of who would go when would be Marilyn and Darry would meet her there at the end, then Steve and Evie, Ponyboy and Cherry, then Sodapop and Candy. Just like Mrs. Curtis had said when I was fourteen, if her and Mr. Curtis were not there, Darry would walk me down the aisle and hand me over since he was legal guardian.

We all met out in the hallway. Everyone there smiled and I gave a weak smile back. Steve went in and signaled to the organ player to start. He did as he was told and the doors to the sanctuary opened wide and we all got in line. I glanced in and saw Two-Bit standing at the front in his military uniform, since he was still somewhat active and on call. "You look beautiful, Rain," Darry smiled and we locked arms to walk. The line started and continued till it was my turn. "Ready?" he asked. I took a deep breath, gave another weak smile and nodded. He nodded back and we walked to the front.

….._one hour later…_

"Do you, Keith Mathews take Raina Johnson as your beloved wife, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, as long as you both shall live?"

He nodded and I bit back a smile, while he didn't hold his back, "I do."

"Do you, Raina Johnson take Keith Mathews as your husband, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, as long as you both shall live?"

I nodded and this time I smiled, "I do."

"Then by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you two, husband and wife," the priest looked at Two-Bit, "You may now kiss the bride."

He cupped my chin and leaned to me, I met him halfway, wrapping my arms around his neck and our lips pressed against each other. I heard the crowd of everyone we invited start to clap and I saw from the corner of my eyes camera's flashing, but I ignored it. I was on cloud nine.

…_two hours later…_

"Rain, come on! Throw it behind you, don't be afraid you're gonna hurt someone!" Evie called.

I laughed and turned my back, then threw it behind me. I turned and saw Marilyn catch it. I laughed again as I saw Darry walk up to her, like he told me and Two-Bit he was planning on doing, and pulled out a little box from his pocket. She watched him with nervous eyes as he opened the box in front of her and got down on one knee. He said something to her but I couldn't hear, but I saw her nod and she jumped into his arms and kissed him.

Two-Bit walked next to me, wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kissed me. I pulled away and smiled at him. He smiled back, "I love you, Raina Mathews."

I laughed a bit and kissed him, then pulled away, "I love you too, Keith Mathews."


	34. Bonus Chapter! 2

FUTURE'S FOR THE CHARACTERS

_**Darry and Marilyn**_

_Darry and Marilyn got married on the date of June 30, 1970. They moved into the next building over next to where Danny and Sandy Zuko lived. The two had their first child, a little girl, on January 3, 1972; they named her Mariah Rose, Mariah after Mrs Curtis. The couple had their second child, a little boy, on August 31, 1974; they named him Darrel Shaynne Curtis III._

_**Sodapop and Candy**_

_The two got married on February 28, 1974. They, after Candy finished college, moved back into the house Sodapop grew up in. The two had their first child, boy and girl twins, on September 19, 1975; they named them Patrick Michael Curtis and Elizabeth "Ellie" Michaela Curtis. The couple had another child, a little girl, on December 3, 1978; they named her Katherine Candice Curtis. Soda was drafted as well to go to Vietnam in 1971, right when Two-Bit was sent back. The two were in the same unit. They both returned in 1974, Soda had a leg injury which healed, but he walked with a bit of a limp and was never sent back to the military._

_**Ponyboy and Cherry**_

_After an accident with Suzie's brother in Vietnam, she broke up with Ponyboy and left town to join the hippies in their protest against the war. As far as they all knew, she was in California. When Rain and Two-Bit had paired Ponyboy and Cherry together to walk down the aisle, they started to talk. They eventually started to go out and had a long distance relationship throughout college. Ponyboy proposed to her on her graduation day at college and the two got married February 14, 1977: Valentine's Day. The couple had their first child, a little boy, on January 30, 1978; they named him Jonathan"Johnny" Ponyboy Curtis. The couple then had their second child, another boy, on March 30, 1979; they named him Dallas Cooper Curtis. The couple had their third and final child, a little girl, on January 19, 1981; they named her Beth Marcia Curtis. They lived in the house next to Sodapop and Candy._

_**Steve and Evie**_

_They were the last to get married, which they did on March 25, 1980. They lived in a house about a block away from the two younger Curtis brothers The couple had their first child, a little girl, on February 18, 1982; they named her Rachel "Rae" Evelyn Randle. The two had their second child, another little girl, on October 29, 1987; they named her Stacy Esther Randle. _

_**Two-Bit and Rain**_

_The two were married on August 30, 1969. The couple had their first child on September 1, 1972; a little boy named Keith Mathews Junior (or the second). The couple had their second child on April 15, 1976; a little girl named Skylar "Sky" Keilah Mathews. They had their third and final child, a little boy, on July 27, 1980; they named him Andrew Michael Mathews. Two-Bit continued his military career up to the point when Sodapop was injured in in '74 and didn't go back. He had a bit of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) due to his length of service and things he saw while he was there, but only a mild case and rarely had flashback attacks- he only did on rare occasions when certain movies war movies would play and it would remind him._

_**Griffin, Andrew, Caleb and Joseph**_

_Griffin and Joseph went to join the hippies in protest of the war._

_Andrew realized his beatings on Greasers were wrong and apologized to every single one he ever hurt._

_Caleb left the state and moved to Kentucky._

_**Randy and Marcia**_

_The two eventually got married and moved to Oregon._

_**James**_

_Rusty found out about what he did to Rain and everything else he did to others and sent him to a military boarding school out of state._

**This is OFFICIALLY the end of "To Love A Greaser"! If you liked this story, be sure to check out "Before the Love" that will be on both wattpad and fanfiction. net probably next week. It is not necessarily a sequel, but both a sequel and prequel. It is what life was like dating back to a month after Mr and Mrs Curtis died all the way to where this story began. Or you can check out my new fan fic just on that was requested that is called "Cherry Flavored Soda". Thank you all for reading this, I love everyone who did and everyone who possibly will in the future! Bye and stay gold! 3 :)**


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